Long Monday
Having taken the weekend off running to spend some time with mum and watch the marathon, today was long run day. I knew that I'd have a long time between dropping mum off at work and needing to be at work, so I set that time aside to aim for a 1.5 - 2 hour run up the canal further than I normally go. In the run up to my last half marathon my longest run was 12.2 miles, and since then I've only run the half marathon, a couple of 7 - 8 mile runs and one 10 mile run. I really wanted to get a decent long run under my belt before the Chester half when I get back from Spain, but with no weekends to do it in, I had to get creative in terms of fitting it in before work!
So, this morning it was. The first shock was how cold it was. It was lovely and warm over the weekend, and I had the french doors into the garden open. I stepped outside this morning and saw frost on the ground. Typically, I hadn't picked up my gloves, although I had at least put my long sleeve running top on. I just hoped that it would warm up before too long!
After dropping mum off, I parked at the gym. A whole 45 minutes before it opened. I started running at 5.45am. Yup, you read that right. Me, out running before 6am on a Monday morning. What has happened to me?
At first, down the familiar stretch, I seemed to warm up a bit. It was relatively sunny, and the cold didn't seem too bad. But then after the place where I normally turn round, between 2.5 and 3 miles, the fog seemed to come own and my hands were getting very cold. At one point I could hardly move my fingers. But I carried on running in the hope it would warm them up!
There were a couple of steep slopes up triple locks, but the route is generally nice and flat, and relatively scenic considering it goes along the back of industrial estates. As I got further out of the city there were more parks along the side of the canal, and I started really getting into my stride.
There are mile markers along the route, although they're not in place for the first couple of miles, and I'm not sure where in the city centre they measure to. The gym is slightly on that side of town, so my run might have been a bit shorter, but then I have to run back on myself to get down onto the towpath so maybe not. I decided to just use the mile markers as if they're off it's not by much.
I ran past the 4 mile marker, the 5 mile marker and the 6 mile marker. Then, after about 56 minutes I hit the 6.25 mile mark and decided to turn round and head back. I was still feeling OK by that point.
After about 8 miles though, the energy started ebbing away. Due to a slight lack of planning I'd forgotten to pick up any energy drinks so I was running on a ryvita bar and a couple of swigs of water before I set out. But I kept on going. Watching the London marathon yesterday actually helped here. I was using it for motivation, imagining I was 4 miles from the finish of the marathon, and telling myself that I wouldn't stop running then and neither should I stop today.
It worked, I got through the tough patch and out the other side, and I kept on running. I was counting off the markers back into town, relishing the short but steep downhills by the locks and cursing the two small bridges over a marina. It seemed a lot warmer running back to the gym, and my fingers loosened up a lot.
I made it back to the gym in about 1:51, which I was very pleased with. My longest run before my last half marathon was 12.2 miles in over 2 hours and today I ran a little further (probably between 12.3 and 12.5 miles) 10 minutes quicker. That will do me. Hopefully it's a sign that I might be able to run Chester a bit faster than I ran Blackpool and take some time off that PB!
I mentioned it before, but watching the marathon yesterday was fab and really inspired me for Berlin. Seeing all those people who are no fitter than me (and the Run for Glory lot who started off in a far worse position than I was at 6 months out) made me realise that I really can do it, and I can do it well. I can already run over 12 miles relatively comfortably, and on the basis that I don't apparently need to run over 18 or 20 in training, I'm feeling more confident about the whole thing.
I'm also currently trying to work out the pace I should be running my training runs. To aim for a 4 hour marathon I need to run the whole thing at pretty much the pace I ran my long run today. But then you're meant to run your long runs slower than race pace, so if I can keep on doing my long runs at that pace (which was fairly comfortable) then maybe I could go a bit quicker on my "race pace" runs. Decisions, decisions. I keep on thinking about those magic numbers, 3:59 and 3:44 and wondering if it's possible. Certainly I'm running at about the right pace, but whether I can run at that pace for 26.2 miles is a completely different question!
So, this morning it was. The first shock was how cold it was. It was lovely and warm over the weekend, and I had the french doors into the garden open. I stepped outside this morning and saw frost on the ground. Typically, I hadn't picked up my gloves, although I had at least put my long sleeve running top on. I just hoped that it would warm up before too long!
After dropping mum off, I parked at the gym. A whole 45 minutes before it opened. I started running at 5.45am. Yup, you read that right. Me, out running before 6am on a Monday morning. What has happened to me?
At first, down the familiar stretch, I seemed to warm up a bit. It was relatively sunny, and the cold didn't seem too bad. But then after the place where I normally turn round, between 2.5 and 3 miles, the fog seemed to come own and my hands were getting very cold. At one point I could hardly move my fingers. But I carried on running in the hope it would warm them up!
There were a couple of steep slopes up triple locks, but the route is generally nice and flat, and relatively scenic considering it goes along the back of industrial estates. As I got further out of the city there were more parks along the side of the canal, and I started really getting into my stride.
There are mile markers along the route, although they're not in place for the first couple of miles, and I'm not sure where in the city centre they measure to. The gym is slightly on that side of town, so my run might have been a bit shorter, but then I have to run back on myself to get down onto the towpath so maybe not. I decided to just use the mile markers as if they're off it's not by much.
I ran past the 4 mile marker, the 5 mile marker and the 6 mile marker. Then, after about 56 minutes I hit the 6.25 mile mark and decided to turn round and head back. I was still feeling OK by that point.
After about 8 miles though, the energy started ebbing away. Due to a slight lack of planning I'd forgotten to pick up any energy drinks so I was running on a ryvita bar and a couple of swigs of water before I set out. But I kept on going. Watching the London marathon yesterday actually helped here. I was using it for motivation, imagining I was 4 miles from the finish of the marathon, and telling myself that I wouldn't stop running then and neither should I stop today.
It worked, I got through the tough patch and out the other side, and I kept on running. I was counting off the markers back into town, relishing the short but steep downhills by the locks and cursing the two small bridges over a marina. It seemed a lot warmer running back to the gym, and my fingers loosened up a lot.
I made it back to the gym in about 1:51, which I was very pleased with. My longest run before my last half marathon was 12.2 miles in over 2 hours and today I ran a little further (probably between 12.3 and 12.5 miles) 10 minutes quicker. That will do me. Hopefully it's a sign that I might be able to run Chester a bit faster than I ran Blackpool and take some time off that PB!
I mentioned it before, but watching the marathon yesterday was fab and really inspired me for Berlin. Seeing all those people who are no fitter than me (and the Run for Glory lot who started off in a far worse position than I was at 6 months out) made me realise that I really can do it, and I can do it well. I can already run over 12 miles relatively comfortably, and on the basis that I don't apparently need to run over 18 or 20 in training, I'm feeling more confident about the whole thing.
I'm also currently trying to work out the pace I should be running my training runs. To aim for a 4 hour marathon I need to run the whole thing at pretty much the pace I ran my long run today. But then you're meant to run your long runs slower than race pace, so if I can keep on doing my long runs at that pace (which was fairly comfortable) then maybe I could go a bit quicker on my "race pace" runs. Decisions, decisions. I keep on thinking about those magic numbers, 3:59 and 3:44 and wondering if it's possible. Certainly I'm running at about the right pace, but whether I can run at that pace for 26.2 miles is a completely different question!
posted by YP at 8:04 PM
1 Comments:
A pretty reliable formula is to take your half marathon, double it and add another fifteen minutes. That should be your target number. Make sure you get in a half marathon race about 5 weeks or so before your marathon.
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