Easy run? No such thing!

After the hard race yesterday, my legs were pretty tired this morning. I therefore thought a steady 8 miler over different terrains (road, towpaths and farm tracks) should do just the trick. So, I programmed the Garmin Virtual Partner (tells you if your ahead or behind your set goal) in for 8 miles in an hour (7 mins 30 per mile) which seemed reasonable for a steady paced run, taking into account I would be running over terrain which is not as fast as the tarmac. About a mile in however, I felt incredibly strong and kicked on. I felt to be flying and although my legs were a little dead on the climbs, my leg speed felt great even on the muddy, grassy canal towpath. I got back home having done 7.18 miles (a little short of the target of 8 miles) but had done it in 47.20! Not bad considering a good 2.5 of the miles were on muddy off road and completley energy sapping. This left me with a pace of 6.36 per mile which I was delighted with. I topped the distance up to 8 with a jog warm down. A great weekend's running! A couple of days off now to let the body recover before a big session on Wednesday.