Long run - 31km (more slow easy miles)

dannewton just finished a 31.77km run, that lasted for 200 minutes.
This run helped dannewton burn 2279.0 calories.

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Description from Strava: Well, I mentioned in the last running blog that I was aiming to start doing these long runs on a Saturday as part of getting my schedule back to normal... and as you can see from yesterdays trip to Whisby, that didn't really go as planned lol

And after the walk around Whisby, and then popping to the shops, and then the Garden Centre at Pennels, and then finally taking all the Xmas decs down, it turned out that yesterday was too busy to fit a run in.

Fortunately for today, the day was my own to spend as I please, and so of course I was finally able to enjoy my run in peace ;-)

As I've been doing recently for all of my long runs, the plan today was for 30km as usual.

To begin with, I headed for a little meander through town, which gave me a chance to see the various flooding that has taken place in the last few days, the above picture shows part of the River Witham which has almost burst its banks in the south of Lincoln

And then further along the route I ran past Brayford Pool, which had flooded over that concrete wall 3 days ago, but looks like the water levels have already started receding

After passing through town and along Monks Road, I ended up on Greetwell Road on the North Easy side of the city. Considering it was Sunday lunchtime, I was surprised at how quiet it was... or perhaps it was just chance that there was no traffic during the 10 minutes I ran along here?

I carried along down Wragby Road, and then its onto the bypass to head back towards home:

The weather today was dry and surprisingly chilly! I think when I set off at 10am it was only 2C, and the highest temperature recorded today was a mere 4C.

It's definitely a welcome change from the previous 3 weeks of continuous rain, and as expected the River Witham has burst its banks and flooded the farmland on the East of the city, as you can see below.

Pretty wet I think you'll agree!

Checking the weather forecast, it looks like we are going to get a break from the relentless rain, and the next 2 weeks looks to be mostly dry.

We've had so much rain here in the last 4 months, the ground is just completely saturated, so no wonder we keep getting the floods

The route I was running today is approximately 22km (approx. 13 miles) and while it is a decent distance, its not far enough to match my aim for today. Therefore, when I was nearly back in my home village, I then turned left and headed to do a loop around the village of Branston.

a quick snack first of a chocolate Rice Krispie Square thing!

The Branston loop consists of quiet and pretty farm tracks

Those quiet country lanes take you into the village of Branston, and then if I continue all the way through, I then end up back on the bypass, and this time I headed all the way home.

21km around Lincoln, plus an extra 10km around Branston, gives a total of 31km altogether

That will do nicely!

One last thing to mention for today, is that I noticed my VO2 max has increased again, and now stands at an estimated* score of 51

*estimated as its only a watch, and can't match the proper lab conditions that a true VO2 max score needs

The graph shows that since August 2023 (when I finally got back into running properly) that my score has steadily and consistently increased. I think this is a reflection of me spending more time building that aerobic base, and finally being able to improve my level of fitness

So yeah, its all good at the moment!

Tomorrow is Monday, and the start of a new week. I will be working from home (as long as the laptop works!) and I'll be able to go for another slow and easy 16km run (gotta keep building that aerobic base!)

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If you would like to check out this activity on strava you can see it here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/10511994228

About the Athlete: Living in the UK, I am an intermittent Runner, but always striving for more consistency. When I'm not training I can be found photographing insects or listening to really loud angry music (which is the best type of music obviously!)

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