Mileage: 17.5 miles
AM: 3.75miles; PM: 13.75 miles (including 12 miles at marathon pace)
Well I am fairly certain I have a mild form of man-flu. I still have a scratchy throat and my body feels a little achy and overall I just feel a bit shit. I felt pretty heavy running to work this morning and all day at work I was a little run down and living off lemsips and lozengers.
So when it came to my run this evening I was really in two minds. My training plan said I was due to do 13 miles at 6minutes 25 seconds pace, but this really didn't seem possible as I was sipping a lemsip at 5.15pm this afternoon and craving for my bed. As part of my Amsterdam training I have decided to do some long sustained runs at marathon pace. In order to get a sub 2hour 40 minute marathon I need to be able to run 26.2 miles at 6minutes 6seconds per mile pace, so fairly fast. My plan has been to build up to this by starting off at 12 miles at 6minutes 25seconds pace building up to 16 miles at the pace I need.
I decided to set off for home tonight and do a couple of miles quickly and see how that went before deciding how long to stay out for. My first 1.25 miles warm-up jog along the canal were sluggish and I was dreading my watch telling me to start the faster miles. It was, however, not bad at all. Once I got the first mile in and it popped up at 6minutes and13 seconds I felt lot better. The next couple of miles I just concentrated on maintaining the pace. My chest did begin to feel a bit tight and wheezy, and my legs were a little tight and heavy, but generally everything was going well, so I kept pushing. At mile 8 it did start to feel pretty hard and I began to think that maybe doing 10 miles would be enough. However, miles 8 and 9 were still fairly steady pace wise, so I kept going. In fact the last 3 miles I really picked up the pace. I don't know where I got the strength or the energy from, but I managed and felt good. The last mile was tough going and I was just holding on in the end, but I was really pleased with the 12 miles, which I felt were enough, especially as I was very close to marathon pace for the first 9 miles and for the last 3 I pushed under 6 minute mile pace with the last two miles at 5.47 and 5.45.
If I can just shift this cold now, get a good long run in on Saturday and some good rest next week then I reckon I will be in pretty good shape for the Nairn Half Marathon on the 20th. I still have my eye on a PB, even though the the course profile I was sent this week shows a massive, steep hill at mile 3! Are there any flat half marathons in Scotland away from strong coastal breezes and bad weather???
My mile splits for the 12 miles at pace:
1) 6.13
2) 6.09
3) 6.12
4) 6.08
5) 6.15
6) 6.07
7) 6.13
8) 6.12
9) 6.10
10) 5.59
11) 5.47
12) 5.45
Total: 73.10 (Average pace of 6minutes 6seconds per mile)
No comments:
Post a Comment