15.5 Miles
I had a surprisingly good run this morning. It was hot, with bright sunshine, and I only got home late last night. So I was a bit apprehensive when I set out later than I'd have liked with the aim of doing 15 miles. (By the way, what has it come to when setting out at 7.30 is "late" on a Sunday morning).
My target pace for long runs is around 10 minute miles (based on 9 - 9:30 for easy runs, and 8:30 for marathon pace runs), but as I set out I realised that it might be a slog, and was even considering a walk break every mile. I revised my target pace downwards. Not that I have ways to track it on the run, but I wanted to make sure that I didn't get back and feel disappointed. I decided that what this run was about was covering the distance, and time on my feet, rather than pace. I know that all long runs are, but this one more than most.
I'd vaguely thought of a route, but the route measuring website I use was playing up and I'd only measured it up to about 12 miles. Still, I knew it would be pretty much right.
I dragged myself out of bed, ignored all the excuses, and headed out.
It was surprisingly OK! I did my normal long run route up to about 8 miles and then, at just about the point I normally walk up the short but steep hill, I went round for another, slightly shorter, circuit of the same reservoir. I'd been planning on heading back to the main road a slightly different way, but the last leg of the circuit was quite shady, so I decided to run a full extra circuit and head home the way I'd come.
I managed to run to just after 12 miles before I got back to the 8 mile short but steep hill. That was further than I've run in any of my marathon training runs (and further than I ran in my last half marathon too). In this heat I was very pleased with that. I walked up the hill, and had three miles to go to get home. I'd wanted to run the whole distance back, but I ended up doing a bit of walking up another hill. But still, I got back and measured the route to find that it was 15.5 miles, and I'd taken a mere 2 walk breaks, and still managed to stay under 10:30 minutes per mile.
Not shabby at all.
After my worries a couple of weeks ago, I'm getting a lot more confidence now. In my running, and in the training plan. My only concern now is that last time I went over to GC I seemed to take about a month to get back into the swing of things, particularly the long runs. I'm off to GC again on Saturday for another 10 day holiday and while I built an extra week into my training plan to cater for that, I'm worried about losing some of my fitness over that week. I would say that I'd do some short runs, but I know what happens on holiday so I wouldn't want to make unrealistic promises!
Anyway, whatever happens, I've managed 15.5 miles, and I'm sticking to the training schedule like glue. If having a week off helps some of the aches and pains and niggles clear up a bit (the knee isn't so bad at the moment, but my hip's a bit iffy) then I can cope with having to build back up a bit if I can't manage the full distances I've been doing so far straight off! On the other hand, I think a lot of it is confidence, so maybe if I just get back believing that I can still run, I'll be able to do it...
My target pace for long runs is around 10 minute miles (based on 9 - 9:30 for easy runs, and 8:30 for marathon pace runs), but as I set out I realised that it might be a slog, and was even considering a walk break every mile. I revised my target pace downwards. Not that I have ways to track it on the run, but I wanted to make sure that I didn't get back and feel disappointed. I decided that what this run was about was covering the distance, and time on my feet, rather than pace. I know that all long runs are, but this one more than most.
I'd vaguely thought of a route, but the route measuring website I use was playing up and I'd only measured it up to about 12 miles. Still, I knew it would be pretty much right.
I dragged myself out of bed, ignored all the excuses, and headed out.
It was surprisingly OK! I did my normal long run route up to about 8 miles and then, at just about the point I normally walk up the short but steep hill, I went round for another, slightly shorter, circuit of the same reservoir. I'd been planning on heading back to the main road a slightly different way, but the last leg of the circuit was quite shady, so I decided to run a full extra circuit and head home the way I'd come.
I managed to run to just after 12 miles before I got back to the 8 mile short but steep hill. That was further than I've run in any of my marathon training runs (and further than I ran in my last half marathon too). In this heat I was very pleased with that. I walked up the hill, and had three miles to go to get home. I'd wanted to run the whole distance back, but I ended up doing a bit of walking up another hill. But still, I got back and measured the route to find that it was 15.5 miles, and I'd taken a mere 2 walk breaks, and still managed to stay under 10:30 minutes per mile.
Not shabby at all.
After my worries a couple of weeks ago, I'm getting a lot more confidence now. In my running, and in the training plan. My only concern now is that last time I went over to GC I seemed to take about a month to get back into the swing of things, particularly the long runs. I'm off to GC again on Saturday for another 10 day holiday and while I built an extra week into my training plan to cater for that, I'm worried about losing some of my fitness over that week. I would say that I'd do some short runs, but I know what happens on holiday so I wouldn't want to make unrealistic promises!
Anyway, whatever happens, I've managed 15.5 miles, and I'm sticking to the training schedule like glue. If having a week off helps some of the aches and pains and niggles clear up a bit (the knee isn't so bad at the moment, but my hip's a bit iffy) then I can cope with having to build back up a bit if I can't manage the full distances I've been doing so far straight off! On the other hand, I think a lot of it is confidence, so maybe if I just get back believing that I can still run, I'll be able to do it...
posted by YP at 7:42 PM
1 Comments:
You are my hero. I'm racing 5 miles on Sunday. My first official race. And you've run 3 times that distance! Keep up the good work! I'm rooting for you!
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