#longrun;

So yesterday's plan was to bounce out of bed, enjoy my usual pre-run breakfast and then head out for a nine mile run, ideally with some variance of pace before enjoying a productive afternoon of errands.

Yeah, that didn't happen. I spent Friday night at a friend's celebrating her birthday and enjoying a few more glasses of red wine than I had planned. And cocktails. 

Instead, I fell asleep on my sofa and woke up feeling a little green around the gills. There was no way a run was going to happen, let alone anything long because I needed to keep it close to my new BFF, my bathroom. 

I made it through to the early afternoon, catching up on the PVR in my jammies and barely scraping together breakfast from my empty cupboards. 

Despite a lunch/afternoon snack made from a bag of Mini Eggs, I started to feel a lot better and thought I could make it out but decided the gym was a safer option.

Anything sadder than a 7:00pm gym session on a Saturday??

First speed session of the year:

1 km warm up (10.1.kmph/9.22 mile pace)

4 x 1600 m sprints (11.3 kmph/8:34 mile pace, 11.5 kmph/8:20 mile pace, 11.3 kmp, 11.5 kmph)

1 km cool down (10.5 kmph/9:22 pace)

I had to guess a little on the speed because the whole mile versus kilometer-pace thingy was complicated in the light of my hangover. Or ability to do my in my head. 

A good night's rest and some normal food last night put me on the right path this morning. 

I was up, eating breakfast and getting organized to head out by noon. I did get slightly distracted at that point and ended up doing a whole bunch of stuff around the house. By 3:00pm, I knew it was time to head out and enjoy the sunny day outside.

My plan was for nine miles: three miles to warm up - aiming for between 9:30 and 9:55- three comfortable miles around 10:00 and then three faster miles to bring me home. 

Nine miles at an average 9:47 pace. 

This run felt so much better than last week's. Like I felt good at the end and even picked up the speed as I came round to the home stretch. There was a lot less walking too. 

I wish I had a magical explanation for this improvement but I really only have a few guesses, mostly around the weather. It was a positively tropical 9 degrees Celsius today, compared to the negative 1-2 degrees last week. My best guess is that the cold adversely affected my gimpy hip and slowed my range of motion? A natural winter runner, I am not. 

It feels good to be facing the end of this month, my base building week, knowing that I have stuck to every run I promised myself. With a few days left to go, I have hit over 61 miles this month, the highest since October.