Training

Ever since I started running I’ve hated hills. The minute I hit an incline my heart rate and breathing quicken and my pace nosedives. However living in hilly North London I don’t have much choice about tackling them, and the hard work seems to be paying off. I’ve noticed finding hills gradually get easier over the past few weeks, and today I ran the hilliest section of my run from work to home, a mile long section which rises over 200 feet, at a pace of 8:37 min/mile, which is faster than I was running the entire route just a month or so back. What’s more, I ran it at essentially the same pace as my fastest 10K, despite it being a longer distance ending up 300 feet higher than the start. Very pleased with that indeed!

Originally planned to run the flat part of this run at around 8:20 min/miles and see how I got on once I got to the hills in the final two miles, but after a quick sub-8 first mile I decided to go for it and see how I got on. Kept the first four miles under 8 min/miles and managed not to slow down too much on the hills to end up with an average 8:10 min/mile pace, way faster than I’ve ever run this route before. Pretty pleased with the result, another confidence booster that my target HM pace will be doable!

Feeling a bit tired after a late night watching Murray win his first Grand Slam title, so took it nice and steady back home today. Pace felt nice and easy even heading up the hilly bits which reassures me my fitness is definitely getting better.

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.