Grand Old Duke of York 2

I was curious to see how fast I could do the Grand Old Duke of York after I felt I had run within what I felt I could do last week.

I started off down the road and thought my attempt was going to be pathetic due to a stern headwind that was trying to slow me down all the way up the hill. The wind seemed to find some extra gusto as I turned up the final 400m of the hill where the gradient steepens slightly and by the time I had got the top I felt pretty wasted. I looked at my watch - 15.21 to the top of the hill (I was hoping to be quicker than that but the wind made things difficult). I turned round and ran down the hill with my legs feeling like jelly. Going down the hill I tried to stride out as much as I could and half way down I felt well recovered so put a good effort in all the way to the end.

I finished the run at 28.43, around 9 minutes faster than I did it last Thursday.

I didn't warm down properly, though, and today I'm aching so much I found it difficult to get out of the car.

Tonight, I think I'll go for a walk to stretch my aching legs as I always find that this makes me recover better. Probably something to do with getting rid of crystals of lactic acid or something.