Monday 6 July 2009

W15KW#3 - Long Run

Long run #2 of the plan! A small matter of 15 miles (or 24km in new money) - easily my longest run ever, never mind a training run. Ok, so I wasn't going to run it non-stop but it was still pretty daunting.

The plan called for an average pace of 10m 58s per mile over the distance. Given my last long run (13miles) came in at 12m 03s per mile, that was going to be a tough ask. After the trouble with the heat last weekend, I decided to try and get out as early as possible. So a 6.30am wakeup call and myself and my running partner headed out for the first stage of the run. She peeled off after 50 minutes (longer than she'd planned) but the company really made a difference - I knew I was about a third of the way through the run at that point and it didn't seem as daunting.

After leaving my running partner behind, I carried on along the Thames for another 40 mins or so. It was actually pleasant running weather and I picked up the pace a little. My first bit of trouble came around 9am when I came upon an open area and the sun decided to show properly for the first time - instantly I was zapped of energy and took a five minute walking break.

Thankfully, I got it all together again after this and managed a few longer run \ walks over the next hour or so. The last half hour though I found quite tough - it was starting to get a bit hot and I was tired. But I was in much better shape than last week and still enjoying it.

Anyways, done the 15 miles with an average pace of 11m 40s - I'm taking solace in the fact that it's a fair bit faster than last week and was a much more enjoyable run. If I'd taken five minutes off my time I'd be much closer to my goal time, but I can only run the run that I'm able for.

Going to start week three now - getting the miles in, even if I'm struggling.

1 comment:

Andrew is getting fit said...

Definitely making progress though eh!