8 miles tempo

I was wary of training with the club the day after a race as these sessions usually end up being quite severe despite whatever intentions I may have had to run at a steady pace. The course was quite hilly for the first few miles, involving a climb through Bearsden, a steep descent down Chesters Road and another climb over Pendicle Road. We reached the 4-mile point near Drumchapel Hospital in exactly 28 minutes and headed back along the canal, with the pace gradually increasing and the fast pack starting to fragment as usual. I found it fairly tough around 6 miles and could feel some hamstring tightness, as well as the usual sore quads, but it didn't get any worse and I managed to hang on without too much difficulty to finish with the leaders in 53:48. The distance was measured at just over 8.1 miles. A few months ago I would probably have dropped off the pace just after the halfway mark. Later on I had some pain on the outside of my right knee which was probably related to muscle tightness. I'll take a day off on Friday and see how it goes over the weekend with the intention of resuming morning training sessions next week.