Training

Did the first four miles of this at what I hope will be my HM pace (8:20), and I’m pleased to say I found it fairly comfortable. Even with all the hills in the last few miles I managed to keep up a relatively decent pace to end up with my fastest run home ever.

In my original plan this was to be a 12 mile run, but while measuring out a course I found that running down through Hampstead to Regents Park, looping the park, then heading back home via the south end of Parliament Hill and Highgate made for almost exactly 13 miles, so I figured I’d go for it. I made sure I kept to a nice slow pace and found the entire run comfortable, and while I could feel my legs tiring towards the end they felt fresher than at the end of the 11 mile long run last week. I’m pleased to have completed the half-marathon course with more than a month until my actual HM race, as it gives me plenty of time to fit in a few more decent long runs before tapering. Just need to work on my speed now, as ideally I’d like to run the HM at 8:20 pace, not 9:39!

Wanted to squeeze another run in this week, so headed out early (for me anyway!) on Saturday. Despite forecasts of rain it stayed dry and was actually quite sunny in places. Unfortunately towards the end I tripped on a tree root and landed face first on the tarmac. Luckily I escaped with just a few grazes but no real damage. My Garmin also took a bit of a bashing but aside from a slightly damaged strap and a few scratches on the screen it seems ok. Oh well, I suppose I’ve done well to avoid any accidents until nearly 9 months in to running.