All Happed Up For the Long Run

It's been cold today.  The car thermometer reckons it has been about 3C for most of the day.  I fitted in my long run after lunch, but had a long debate about what to wear.  Two tops definitely.  One or two pairs of trousers? Which socks: normal, thick or two pairs? Hat and gloves definitely.  In the end thick socks were fine, as were the two tops.  I should have put on two pairs of trousers and, although the Tracksters were fine for the start of the run, my legs got very chilled on the way home.  I also had a very cold chin, but that I can live with.

It was my longest run so far - 13.93 miles.  The first 6 miles were fine - along a part of the river Medway that I hadn't run before.  After 6 miles I hit a low as I was beginning to feel tired and was very aware that I wasn't half way through yet.  (I had planned to run 14 miles.)  After 9 miles things picked up a little, although my tiredness increased and I ran slower and slower.  From 12 miles, I felt awful - tired cold legs, my knees ached (probably because the run was nearly all on the roads, and even the river path was surfaced) and other bits of my legs joined in the complaints, so that I ended up walking a couple of times in the last (uphill) mile. I've never felt so glad to see my house!

Curiously, last week's long run was one of my faster runs.  My midweek 3 mile run this week was just as slow as today's run.  The human body and mind are strange things and I can't work out why I feel so bad some days (apart from the inevitable tiredness as the long runs get longer) and surprisingly good on others.