A Weekend off

Sometimes a day off can be just as rewarding as a run. I'd had some physio on my calves on Thursday evening to gauge where they were in terms of health. The good news is that everything appears to be fine, my diligence with stretching has paid off and the calves appear to be in decent shape.
We'd planned a weekend away, but to include a parkrun en route. As with all plans there is a degree of flexibility and the need for a lie in meant the parkrun got nixed! I decided to embrace the sleep rather than run locally.
At this point the blog quickly descends into Eat rather than Run.......

The Eat(s)

Our weekend away took us down to the south coast to see how our friends were surviving parenthood. We'd left early just in case traffic was bad due to the weather so found ourselves with nearly two hours to kill in Portsmouth. Having elected against the drudgery of retail we drove to Southsea in search of a cake shop we'd visited in the past on the recommendation of a friend. Thankfully The Tenth Hole (easily found on instagram, Facebook & twitter) is not only still there, but appears to be doing very well and has undergone a facelift.
We were met with a choice of approximately 20 cakes, of which we wanted nearly every single one, but could only take six with us. I think they had a cake to suit just about every taste, there is no way you could leave disappointed. To choose just six was a tough task, but aware of the queue forming behind us we made our selections. 

Cakes!!!

Once we made it to our friends we realised the best way to consume the cakes would be to pass them around, like a wine tasting but with more calories! The six options were: Mint Aero cheesecake, Snickers pie, Coffee & Walnut, Chocolate Brownie, Toffee and finally a chocolate & raspberry creation. The slices were generous and the cakes that good that plans for an evening meal out were nixed!!! I suspect our friend's son will be encouraged to take up golf once he's old enough!!!!
With a meal out off the cards our choice was a visit to the local kebab shop. A dirty burger with oozing burger sauce was just perfect. Sometimes basic comfort food has its place and the burger certainly hit the spot.
We retired to our hotel to finish off some cake and pre mix cans. After a night of broken sleep in a knackered bed we all met up again for breakfast. Full English's all round (we'll forget that one Granola cocktail was ordered), with Paula the beneficiary of everyone else not liking beans! A walk around Stansted House and a visit to the farm shop was required before we could drive home!
Even the journeys weren't healthy as we'd picked up some Peanut Butter fudge sent down from our friend Cat & Paula had raided the post office for cheap sweets & crisps!!!

A pit stop in St Albans also meant a visit to the excellent Tomoka Spirits Boutique. I realised that the gin collection hadn't been invested in since Xmas so it was time to make an addition before it was all packed away ahead of the extension. There were several familiar bottles on offer so I opted for one that I didn't recognise. The bottle of Butler's Gin I picked up is barely branded at all. A new offering from a distillery in Hackney apparently. The taste was exquisite when sampled later in the day.

Some Gin, how unpredictable!

The weekend of eat had a slightly healthier end! I stuffed some Portobello style mushrooms with Stilton, onions, breadcrumbs, bacon. Served with a helping of rocket, it almost made for a healthy meal!!!

The Run

After all of this eating I was thankful to get out on Monday morning. I was working late so was able to take plenty of time. My plan was a 90 minute run, 30 mins of half marathon tempo sandwiched by an easy pace.
In the end I managed 75 minutes, with a decent 30 of increased pace. The light returning in the morning was a bonus here as it didn't limit me to three laps of Stansted. After a visit to Forest Hall Park I was able to run to Elsenham. This is a route I'd not taken on for a while & it was nice for a bit of variation.

It took a while to push the pace, it wasn't until I was 15 minutes into the tempo stint that I was noticeably faster than the easy section. As I headed back to Stansted from Ugley Green it was back into easy mode & found the opposite was now true. It was harder to slow down, once you up the pace you are naturally quicker even when trying to be slow.

I got back to the main road & realised that I could head for home via the northern part of the loop, another route that has been off limits due to weather & light. This meant a 75 minute run instead of 90, but my legs felt good throughout. It was nice to get a reasonably long run in before the Ford 10 at the weekend, whether my pace will be there on Sunday will be interesting to see.

I found myself in a bit of pain towards the end of the run. My inner arch was proving to be painful & for a while after the run both Achilles were sore. The only difference between this run & any other is that this was the first run in the Brooks Pure Cadence. They're due to return to the shop today at the end of their trial. I'm glad I got a long run into them as they felt fine on shorter distances. I don't think they're the right shoe for me, but at least they've not cost me anything to try.