Slowing Down - Monday the 11th of July, 2011

If there was ever a sure sign that I needed a little down time, it was on this run as I cruised down a long hill only 5km into the run and couldn't get my heart rate to drop below 165-170bpm. It's been a reoccurring thread in a couple of my last posts, but it was really hammered home in this one... Despite the 3 days break since my previous run, my legs were feeling fatigued right from the start of this run. Of course, the very hot and humid conditions weren't helping and the heavy air pollution was probably also playing a part... But I was just tired...


Crossing the bridge before starting up the hill. The view from here is normal pretty great with mountains stretching out across the horizon. In these heavily polluted conditions, I could barely make out the closest peak.


A bright red seed-pod part of the way up the hill.


Safe slopes save lives... It's amazing the amount of concrete that's poured on even slightly steepish slopes around HK, but I suppose history has shown that heavy rainfall and steep slopes make landslides a common occurrence.


A panorama at Tseung Lan Shue village. Kowloon Peak obscured in the haze.


More bright red as I head back towards HKUST.

Not a great run in any way really, I was very happy to get back and cool off. This time, I took the warning and have decided: no more hot lunchtime runs this week. I'll probably throw in a few night-time waterfront 5km runs to keep the recovery happening but am aiming for about half my normal weekly kms. Hopefully I will be recharged and ready for a couple final long trail runs to say goodbye to the beautiful places I've ran.

Down and up again!
~ Joe