Training: Blue House Roundabout & Little Moor 7K

After 72 hours of headaches that prevented both parkrunning and an office-based lunchtime run, I finally got out again today and put in a 7km run that pushed the boundaries of an acceptable lunchtime (I started at 1:15pm). Still, I was back at my desk, showered and working again in under an hour, so I reckon that's... okay?

The goal today was just to get to a patch of green that I'd not previously explored. I mean, given that the patch of green was just some grass next to my route into work, there wasn't much exploring happening, but still... it relieved my itch to avoid repetition. Oh, and the grass in question was Little Moor, a tiny corner of the Town Moor, isolated on the far side of the Blue House Roundabout.

Blue House Roundabout (not today) looking remarkably traffic-free

Before setting off, I'd not checked the map to see how far my target was from the office, so I figured I'd just get as far as I could in 20 minutes and then turn back. If I had extra time, I'd take in a bit of Dukes Moor as well, across the Great North Road and similarly isolated from the main Town Moor by Grandstand Road. As it was, I barely had time to take in Little Moor.

Heading up John Dobson Street on the way out, I instantly had a long wait for traffic, which was actually welcome as I already puffing, well ahead of the 5-minute mark. Thereafter, it was pretty much unobstructed running all the way to Little Moor. A pace of 5:50/km for the initial 5 minutes gradually came down to an average of about 5:30/km by the time I reached my further point from the office.

Running into a welcome, if only slight, breeze on the return leg didn't feel any faster, mind. I was fully expecting to have slowed down, as I was getting increasingly tired and feeling it in my knees. It was only by the time I reached Bewick Court and the Laing that I felt I could pick up the pace with a degree of bounce, using the downhill section combined with the knowledge I was nearly done to speed myself up. When I finally reached the Market Lane, the GPS ticked over to 7km and I was done. Time for a rapid shower and back to the grind.

Looking at the Google Fit stats later, I see I came close to negative splits for the full 7km. I would've been chuffed with that. As it was, kilometre #5 was my undoing, probably aided by the briefest of pauses before being able to cross Jesmond Dene Road.



Still, on the whole, I was fairly pleased with the run, even if none of the splits was under 5:00/km. It left me with the feeling that, were it not for work, I could've happily carried on to the 10k mark. Which reminds me, it's about time I signed up for one of them. I'm just wary about doing so before I see how much the Allendale Challenge breaks me. 😂

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