The morning after

With it being the morning after a late night (and a Monday too!) I had the proper double-whammy! Not only did I wake up late but then I had to get out of bed and leave immediately for the run to work; that'll teach me not to leave my bike there overnight. That said the conditions outside were near perfect - just the cool side of comfortable, with a light breeze, and bright without being glaring. It was rather a pleasure to set off for Highgate Woods and try shaking the cobwebs from a couple of non-running days out of my system.

Something that's been on my mind lately is that I read an article where David Cameron's running style was compared unfavourably with his wife's - the key point being that he has a lousy stride angle. This rings a real bell with me since I've been doing a lot of quad (and hamstring) stretching since I hurt my back a couple of months ago and I know from experience that when I want to put in a hard effort then it's mostly about holding a longer stride. If your muscles are tight then you can't help being limited at this point and I very much feel that this has restricted me in the past. So this morning I concentrated on lifting my forward leg and achieving a long, efficient stride at a comfortable pace.

Inevitably then this took me down to the Heath and in the morning light it was quiet and refreshing:

The Heath is quiet in the morning

As I ran over the undulating ground, still soft from the winter and yet not too muddy, past the Ladies Bathing Pond and towards Parliament Hill I couldn't help but feel inwardly settled. Some days you just feel comfortable on your feet and today was one of those golden times. Partly though I think that skipping breakfast and running on an empty stomach helped - I just felt so much lighter with easier breathing and sense of movement - and it's not like I felt hungry. So running up the hill for a view over London was no hardship at all:

Parliament Hill on a March morning

From here it is a straight run down through Kentish Town, skirting Camden Town, and down to the Euston Road. The scenery is nothing to write home about but all of the way I felt strong and at ease with this being reflected in my mile-splits. Across the Heath these were all at about the 8 min/mile mark but in Central London these dropped down below 7 min/mile pace and kept falling all of the way to the office. So a very satisfying trip to work indeed!

Distance: 7.7 miles

Time: 59m 19s