Week 14: Increasing my distance.

Monday morning, the kids are off to school, and my wife to work.  I have a couple of free hours but it is cold, damp and dark outside.  I pull on my running clothes and shoes and, after a light breakfast, force myself out the door.  I have planned to run to a village above my house and then circuit back.  I want to increase the distance of my weekly run by 10%, so 11 or 12 km.  It is cold and I start slowly.  After passing through the village I veer off up the hill and immediately get lost.  I had turned too soon and have to retrace my steps.  I tell myself it doesn't matter, I will know for next time.  The path climbs steeply, like every path around here and I am soon down to a rapid walk.  I pass a couple of houses with "beware of the dog" signs.  These signs are unnecessary really as the beasts are hurling themselves at the fences, eager to chop down on my screaming calf muscles.  I hate dogs when I am running.  I can hear one particular pair raging long after I have passed the house.  Glad I am not their neighbour.  Finally the path levels off and I break out of the woods into a very damp field.  My feet are soon wet and cold, but the sun has reached over the crest and I am in sunshine as I jog through the village.  Now the path drops steeply back to the valley.  My pace increases but I need to watch my feet.  Wet leaves cover slippery stones and I almost tumble a number of times.  It is strange but as I descend it is colder than higher up.  It must be due to the morning mist still trapped in the valley floor.  I arrive back at the reservoir and run comfortably and quickly back to the house.  12.8 km, objective reached and I seem to be getting faster.  I am glad I forced myself out.
The next day I go to the gym and mix static bike, rowing, weight lifting and running machine.  I try doing some speed training on the running machine.  Starting off at my jogging pace, then speeding up for 30 seconds or so, then dropping back to my jogging pace.  I am trying to recreate my training on the running track.  But I really don't enjoy running machines.
After two rest days, mainly because of work, I return to the gym and mix things up like in my last session.  This time I try to recreate some hill training on the running machine by increasing the gradient.  I do not feel very efficient, perhaps it is because I am training in the afternoon after lunch.  I was a bit disappointed that the hammam is still out of action I could have done with a nice relaxing steam.