Reeuwijk

19.27k
Start 20.00
Relaxed tempo run with various stops to take photos of a goldiedoodle pup, unusual looking geese and a heron who was stuggling to swallow a still wriggling frog.

 

10 'fast' k

13.69k
Start 19.15
Warm up of 2.5k then steady, no-stops 10k out towards Groenekan and home via De Bilt. I felt like I was running easily but I'm suspicious about my significantly faster-than-usual time as my Garmin graph had jagged bits in it when I know I was running on a straight road.  I suspect some satellite problem of some kind or my watch is starting to hiccup.   If it's correct I did 10k in 54minutes.  Which is possible, I've done it before.  But a few months ago I was doing about 8k in an hour and I'm not sure I've improved thAt much.  Must do a proper race sometime to get some sort of official time scale again to compare my Garmin info with.   

Rosy Run

10.02k
Start 18.00

Out to Bloeyendaal past the rose garden where everything was in full bloom.  Did 4+ laps of the allotments for a sub 30min 5k after a warm up of 3k.  So the sporadic interval stuff seems to be having some effect.  

Rain Dance

10.32k
Start 20.30

Quick run with 2 bits of dijk/bridge training and ending when the rain started getting serious with a sprint home and a jump about to the end of Thunderstruck.

Probably Storks

18.35k
Start 4.30

Uit to Hekendorp and back.  Saw two large black and white birds in a field - I'm fairly sure they were storks but they may well be something else.  I'm glad whatever bird it was that dropped a bombshell on my head when I was taking the first photo was a good bit smaller anyway.  Reminder to self - don't stop to admire the sunrise when standing under a tree. 

Puppy Run

12.23k
Start 17.15

Slug trying to become giant snail?

Out to Haasdrecht via the towpath and back via the road.  Met a couple of wee boys with bulldog puppies, a French one and an Old English one.

Rainbow Run

14.36k
Start 19.45

Great run. Wind and rain all day meant I didn't really feel like getting out but once I was finally out the door I enjoyed it.

Church Visit

16.21k
Start 17.30

Out to Haastrecht and back along the road which I was sure had been 'hilly' on the way to Gouda in the car earlier but on running it almost seemed to slope down both ways.  Very odd.  Stopped to look inside a church which was open. Humidity was much lower after the rain this afternoon and although the temperature was 24 according to my Garmin page it didn't feel uncomfortable to run in and my speed was well up on yesterday morning.

't Weegje

11.86k
Start 4.15

A combination of muggy heat (22 degrees and 83% humidity according to my Garmin charts) and lack of sleep after two consecutive daft-o'clock starts meant that my speed dropped to lowest plod tempo.  Did do 6 minutes of bridge approach repeats near the start but after that I never really got into a higher gear again.  Did manage to find the path I meant to run yesterday though.  The path round the lake was part grass, part woodchip so that possibly slowed me down even more.   

Sunrise with snipe

11.49k
Start 4.20

Was looking for a new path to 't Weegje, a lake I'd seen on the map, but somehow missed the path leading to it, so ended up doing only a slight variation of the route to Waddingxveen and back I've done before.  Sped up a good bit on the way home after a slow start with 10 minutes bridge elevations near the beginning.  This speeding up towards the end is my latest strategy to teach myself how it feels to run faster on tired legs.  Maybe this will help me not to slow down so much during longer running events.  Saw what I'm fairly sure was a snipe sitting on a fence.  I read somewhere recently that the word sniper comes from the fact that these birds have a very erratic flying pattern and so if you're able to shoot them on the wing you're a very good shot indeed.   

The Crow Road

11.32k
Start 8.45

Fairly rubbish run, forgot my Ventolin and it took ages for my lungs to decide they'd co-operate fully with this running business, even though the temperature and wind conditions were about as near to perfect as you can get.  Just as that side of things was improving my bowels decided they weren't keen to let me keep going so the last few k were, em, not optimal either.  (I managed to persuade them we were not stopping till I got home but it was a close run thing...)



 But even though it was very far from being my best run ever I'm still glad I went out now that it's over. 

Bulldog pup and bike jumping

16.06k
Start 20.00

 

Varied run with a ploddish start out around Bloeyendaal and Sandwijck.  Then switched mYpod to music and fair sped along on the homeward straight.
Stopped to admire an American Bulldog pup but he was too squirmy to take a good photo of.  On my next circuit there was a small herd of teenagers and their lying-on-the-ground bikes blocking the path at a bench by the lake at the Berekuil.  Rather than taking the long way round them I thundered right through the middle, leaping over one of the bikes like a prize hurdler.  No doubt they made some daft comments but I had AC/DC in my earphones and neither heard nor cared.  I enjoyed the idea that I didn't have to alter my route to accomodate their dominance of the available space and ran most of the last bit home with a big grin on my face.  

City Run with teapot

11.51k
Start 20.15

Temporary photo exhibition on the  Maliebaan

Meandering run through the city. Spotted the giant teapot on top of shopping centre Hoog Catherijne - I saw a photo of it being transported by cargo barge in the local paper the other day.

2 open bridges

13.03k
Start 18.00

Extra bit of hill training when the second bridge was open so I ran up and down the sliproad leading up to it.  Met the aging Weimeraner again and had the presence of mind to stop my timer and take a photo this time.

Waddinxveen 15k

15.17k
Start 20.30

New route in the Oosterpolder, circuit of the sportfields and then on to Waddinxveen.

 



Moordrecht

10.89k
Start 20.30

Very much a plodding run, the Garmin stats not helped by my stopping to admire an ancient (14!) and beautiful long-haired Weimeraner and forgetting to stop the timer.  But ran a new route, saw my first cygnets of the year and clawed another few kilometers back from the advancing goal line of my month/year target graphs.