6.2 km. That was the run this morning — shorter than planned, but I made the call at the canal bridge and turned back.

Session log:

• Easy run, canal path, 6.2 km
• Pace: 5:54/km
• Time: 36 min
• Perceived effort: 4/10
• Resting HR this morning: 52 bpm

The left Achilles flagged at around the 3 km mark. Not pain — more a mild complaint, the way it sometimes does when I've been on my feet all day the day before, which I was. Monday is always heavy in the classroom: two hours standing for the literacy block, lunch duty, then a staff meeting that ran thirty-five minutes over. By the time I got home it was gone seven and I sat down and didn't move again until bed. Logged 6.8 hours of sleep, which is on the low side for a training day.

I stretched the calf properly when I got back — three sets, single-leg, heel drop off the step, slow and boring. Then ice pack for ten minutes while I had my coffee. One coffee. The Achilles settled within the hour. It usually does when I catch it early and don't push through.

Ate the same lunch I've had three times this week: rice, chicken, half an avocado. There's no romance in it, but it works and it doesn't require thought, which is useful when my brain is already running thirty-two children through the afternoon programme.

Tomorrow I had a tempo run on the plan, but I'm going to swap it for an easy 45-minute spin on the bike instead. The Achilles needs another day of low load. Swapping one session is not a failure of discipline — it's just data management.

#trainingjournal #running #recovery #cycling