New 5Km PB!

Despite the rather late and somewhat alcoholic night on Friday, I still decided to get up and do the Richmond Park Run yesterday morning – at 9am. This is not really a race, but a weekly timed 5Km run which takes place in numerous parks around the country. I was doubtful when the alarm went off at 7am, but was feeling much better after breakfast so decided to give it a go. And too, this is an important run for me, as it marks one year and three days since I had double bunion surgery on my feet. I did the run in 32:36 last year, and was hoping to get in under 32 minutes this year.

Of course the problem with the Richmond Park Run is that it is not flat. In fact, it starts at the top of a long hill, which means you run the first 2 Km downhill, and spend the second half of the run cursing your way back up hill. Yesterday was a beautiful morning, sunny and crisp, and I was feeling good in the first half of the run. In fact, I let myself free wheel down a good portion of the first long hill, doing the second Km in 5:26. But once you came around the second corner at the bottom and started running uphill, what you noticed was the wind. And in a Murphy’s Law sort of way, it was a head wind all the way up the last two Km long hill. I thought I was going to die! 

I did manage to finish in 31:59, a new personal best, but I was absolutely wasted and had no kick at the finish. But then, I would rather know I gave it my all and had nothing left, than finish a race feeling fresh and wondering if I could have gone faster!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
2340.48	124.94g	280.59g	79.43g	0	33.07g
	21%	48%	31%
Calories burned through exercise:		453

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:15	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Mattesson's Turkey rashers	3 rashers
	Sainsbury's Freefrom oats	50g
	with Sultanas	20g
	Sainsbury's pressed apple juice	200mL
08:00	Black Tea	400mL
08:45	Citrus Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
09:00	Richmond Park Run - 5km timed run
09:45	Sponser Recovery Drink, strawberry-banana	60g
11:00	Muller light cherry yoghurt	175g
	Red seedless grapes	107g
	Lindt Excellence 70% cocoa dark chocolate	20g
	Green Tea	250mL
13:30	Sainsbury's Pork loin	57g cooked
	with Sainsbury's Bramley apple sauce	26g
	Boiled and mashed sweet potato	130g
	with butter	2g
	Microwaved broccoli	123g
	Alpro Soya Original	200mL
16:15	Glennan’s Beetroot Crisps	27g
	Brazil nuts	6g
	Cashews	17g
	Black Tea with milk and sugar	500mL
16:45	Citrus Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	500mL
19:15	Scottish Smoked salmon	110g
	on Amisa buckwheat crispbread	40g
	with Philadelphia light cream cheese with chives	23g
	Waitrose Cornish Quartz Cheddar	41g
	Waitrose Caramelised red onion chutney	25g
	Blueberries	106g
21:30	Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew	1 chew
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.