Running

Final big LSR before Royal Parks HM

14.7 miles 2:11:10 8:56/mi

Today was my last long run before I start to slowly ease back the mileage ahead of the Royal Parks Half Marathon in two weeks time. I ended up going a little faster than I had perhaps planned but it felt steady and comfortable the whole way so I didn’t worry too that I was maybe overdoing it. My performance definitely seems to have taken a big jump forward in the past week or two, and while I’m sure the drop in temperatures plays a large factor, it’s nice to think all the training is paying off too.

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Conquering the hills

7.3 miles 58:27 7:58/mi

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!

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Fast run back from work

7.3 miles 1:00:01 8:10/mi

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!

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