5 miles steady

Good run today as I’ve not run since Friday I once again diitched the slow run today.  Didn’t want to push myself too hard so instead ran at a pace that was faster than normal but not so fast I was killing myself.

Quite a few times, up to the 4 mile mark, I had to make myself slow down a bit as I felt like I was pushing myself a bit too much.  I got to a mile from home and just kept the pressure on, I knew this would be tough as there are two rises, the last being quite nasty.

Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
08:30	1.00	8:30	1.00	8:30
16:48	2.01	8:17	1.01	8:14
24:49	3.01	8:00	1.00	7:58
33:14	4.03	8:24	1.02	8:16
41:41	5.04	8:26	1.01	8:20
43:23	5.25	1:42	0.21	8:16

18 miles slow

Cosgrove Ornamental Bridge

Ouch!

I forgot how much marathon training hurt – until today!

I’ve got the day off work to sort out the car and get my long run in before visiting friends for the weekend.  Managed to get out of the door just after 8am for a 9 mile out and back along the canal.  Instead of heading into Milton Keynes I went the other direction, towards Northampton.  I ended up just by Yardly Gobion and ran alongside a great bit of the Grand Union.

I started to feel it at 10 miles which started to feel tough at 13.  When I reached 15 miles all I wanted to do was stop and collapse.  I was out of fuel by now and ever step forwards was through pain until I was home and had covered the 18 miles.  I’ve not had that feeling since training last year.

Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
0:08:22	1.00	8:22	1.00	8:23
0:17:35	2.00	9:12	1.00	9:13
0:26:49	3.00	9:13	1.00	9:13
0:36:20	4.00	9:31	1.00	9:31
0:46:28	5.00	10:08	1.00	10:08
0:56:10	6.00	9:41	1.00	9:42
1:06:19	7.00	10:09	1.00	10:10
1:15:56	8.00	9:36	1.00	9:37
1:25:31	9.00	9:34	1.00	9:35
1:38:39	10.00	13:07	1.00	13:08
1:48:04	11.00	9:25	1.00	9:25
1:58:01	12.00	9:56	1.00	9:57
2:07:32	13.00	9:31	1.00	9:31
2:17:54	14.00	10:22	1.00	10:22
2:27:31	15.00	9:37	1.00	9:37
2:37:15	16.00	9:43	1.00	9:43
2:47:26	17.00	10:11	1.00	10:12
2:56:36	18.00	9:09	1.00	9:10
2:58:27	18.19	1:50	0.19	9:37

10 x 40s hills

Newport Pagnell Services

After having some time off I dropped back to 10 hill repeats straight after work.  It was quite a bright evening but I popped on my fluoresent bib on – just in case.

Tons of cars!  One wing mirror nearly clipped me and an Audi TT driver gave me no room leading me to jump into a bush or get run over!?!?!  Tossers!

Really need to switch to Willen, just wanted to get it out of the way as this hill is so convenient.  Oh picture of my route amussed me, shows how inaccurate GPS is

Hill	Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
1	00:43	0.09	0:43	0.09	7:53
2	02:18	0.27	0:41	0.09	8:09
3	03:56	0.47	0:42	0.09	7:31
4	05:38	0.66	0:41	0.09	7:45
5	07:25	0.86	0:42	0.10	7:14
6	09:08	1.07	0:43	0.09	7:53
7	10:42	1.26	0:42	0.09	8:06
8	12:27	1.46	0:41	0.09	7:26
9	14:17	1.66	0:41	0.09	8:07
10	16:02	1.85	0:43	0.09	8:28

Quick 4 Miles

As usual, my recovery run ended up being a fast one!  I usually feel really good and bouncy the day after my long run that it feels like I can fly…  Today was no exception.

Ran from home to Tongwell Lake, then the mile around it and home.  4 miles   First mile I flew, second mile started to hurt but I pushed myself to the mile marker, 3rd mile I took easy but it crept up towards the end, 4th mile I just dug deep and forced myself to keep going.

Did get a bit of a talking to when I got home about going to fast, but it just felt right

Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
07:31	1.00	7:31	1.00	7:32
15:20	2.00	7:48	1.00	7:49
23:35	3.00	8:14	1.00	8:15
31:11	4.00	7:36	1.00	7:36
31:45	4.07	0:33	0.07	8:21

15 miles slow

Grand Union Canal - Campbell Park

I’ve not run since last Saturday because I’ve been getting over a bad cold.  Thought it was best to recover…

Not a great deal to say, ran from home along to the canal at Giffard Park, then kept following the canal until I hit 7 1/2 miles…  turned around and run back!

Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
0:09:36	1.00	9:36	1.00	9:37
0:19:56	2.00	10:19	1.00	10:20
0:29:14	3.00	9:18	1.00	9:18
0:38:48	4.00	9:33	1.00	9:34
0:48:19	5.00	9:30	1.00	9:31
0:58:37	6.00	10:18	1.00	10:18
1:08:38	7.00	10:01	1.00	10:01
1:22:11	8.00	13:32	1.00	13:33
1:31:39	9.00	9:28	1.00	9:28
1:40:54	10.00	9:14	1.00	9:15
1:50:18	11.00	9:23	1.00	9:24
1:59:24	12.00	9:06	1.00	9:07
2:08:52	13.00	9:27	1.00	9:27
2:18:05	14.00	9:13	1.00	9:13
2:27:19	15.00	9:14	1.00	9:14
2:31:13	15.40	3:53	0.40	9:46

5 miles easy

Tongwell Lake

Just an easy run tonight to get muscles moving after Sunday’s long run.  It was raining when I went out and I ended up on the railway path, soon after which I lost GPS.

I got to the V10 and started to run beside that instead as it is much more open and got GPS back again.  Headed onto Blakelands and twice around Tongwell Lake, before following the same route back home.

I felt really tight from yesterday, but in the last mile and a half it all freed up.  Feel great now after stretching and having a nice hot shower.

Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
08:23	1.00	8:23	1.00	8:23
17:22	2.00	8:58	1.00	8:59
26:00	3.00	8:38	1.00	8:38
34:32	4.00	8:32	1.00	8:32
42:57	5.00	8:25	1.00	8:25
44:50	5.23	1:52	0.23	8:04

16 miles slow

 

Locks at Cosgrove

Long run day!

 

After last week running through some farm land, I felt like avoiding Milton Keynes a bit again.  Also, it is so flat inside MK that it doesn’t really do me any real favours.

As last week, I started out running up Little Linford Lane and towards Haversham.  Instead of heading down near the lakes and along the canal I kept going through Haversham and followed the road.

The old villages just outside MK are so pretty that I wanted to see more, so I headed up towards Castlethorpe, which is somewhere I’ve not been before, even in a car.  I had a stop here as I was at the halfway point for the 15 miles I was supposed to be running.

I followed a road down by a farm, because I was curious, and found a shooting club.  I kept following the country roads to Cosgrove and picked up the canal following it back through Wolverton, then moved onto the old railway path to get home.

Such a pretty run though.  The canal along by Cosgrove is lovely, although there were quite a few people on the tow path, but not too many to be a problem.

Not a fast run, although long runs aren’t about speed…

One other thing to note: I only took a bottle of Lucozade Sport out with me… no gels, or food.  Although I’m going to need more fuel soon, I’m not having the problems of suddenly feeling cold and drained that I used to.

Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
0:11:23	1.00	11:23	1.00	11:24
0:20:42	2.00	9:18	1.00	9:19
0:30:18	3.00	9:35	1.00	9:36
0:40:08	4.00	9:49	1.00	9:50
0:50:02	5.00	9:54	1.00	9:54
0:59:50	6.00	9:48	1.00	9:49
1:09:52	7.00	10:01	1.00	10:02
1:22:31	8.00	12:39	1.00	12:39
1:33:15	9.00	10:43	1.00	10:44
1:42:47	10.00	9:32	1.00	9:32
1:52:23	11.00	9:35	1.00	9:36
2:02:50	12.00	10:27	1.00	10:27
2:12:39	13.00	9:49	1.00	9:49
2:22:13	14.00	9:33	1.00	9:34
2:32:19	15.00	10:06	1.00	10:06
2:41:41	15.99	9:21	0.99	9:25

12 x 40s hills

 

Back to my hill, the other side of the motorway bridge tonight!  Tonight I ran up it 12 times…  which went surprisingly well.

I’ve still got a cold and seem to be having a second wave of it.  I did feel a lot better this week though, it felt easier, but I took up the slack

I think I’ll have to switch to running the hill at Willen Lake by the Pagoda, the traffic tonight was quite bad.  With it getting darker sooner, it won’t be safe for much longer as there is no path and I’m running towards cars.

Hill	Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
1	04:13	0.56	0:59	0.11	8:38
2	05:38	0.73	0:42	0.08	8:45
3	07:15	0.93	0:41	0.09	7:31
4	08:56	1.13	0:45	0.10	7:44
5	10:39	1.33	0:41	0.09	7:32
6	12:19	1.52	0:42	0.09	7:50
7	13:59	1.71	0:42	0.09	7:58
8	15:36	1.90	0:42	0.09	7:27
9	17:15	2.08	0:41	0.08	8:25
10	18:59	2.28	0:42	0.09	7:32
11	20:51	2.48	0:42	0.09	7:42
12	22:34	2.67	0:41	0.09	7:32

5 miles moderate

Tonights session was supposed to be an easy run to help get over yesterday’s long run and help body get used to running lots again…  I got a bit carried away.

I felt really bad yesterday, so after my feeling so good during my first mile I let myself go faster.  It started to feel tough as I reached mile 2, but I pressed on and kept going at that pace right through the 5 miles.  In fact it was more of a tempo run really.

Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
08:42	1.00	8:42	1.00	8:42
16:44	2.00	8:01	1.00	8:02
25:19	3.00	8:35	1.00	8:36
34:07	4.00	8:47	1.00	8:48
42:14	5.00	8:07	1.00	8:07

13 miles slow

 

Church near Linford Lakes

I’ve been ill all week and was tempted to drop this session today.  I decided that I should go regardless of the fact I feel so weird and coldy.

 

I decided to try a slightly different route today, trying to avoid MK and to stick to the farms, lakes and canal instead.  In some ways this was a mistake, because the farm land is uncharted territory for me.  I also tried to go through a wooded area, but the paths were too sodden.  I ended up skirting a field and taken a route I knew as I wasted quite a bit of time.

After the first two miles I was feeling spent and was tempted to shorten the run to a 6 miler.  I felt odd, left water at home and was a bit disoriented…  but I pushed on.

After that I just kept running until my watch said 7 miles, turned around and ran back.  I knew my routine would be shorter, due to all the mucking about to start with.  Very nice route, shame I couldn’t enjoy it.

Time	Distance	Split time	Split distance	Split pace
0:08:45	1.00	8:45	1.00	8:45
0:18:33	2.00	9:48	1.00	9:48
0:30:25	3.00	11:52	1.00	11:52
0:41:06	4.00	10:40	1.00	10:40
0:51:25	5.00	10:19	1.00	10:20
1:01:27	6.00	10:01	1.00	10:01
1:11:39	7.00	10:12	1.00	10:12
1:21:25	8.00	9:45	1.00	9:46
1:30:55	9.00	9:29	1.00	9:30
1:40:59	10.00	10:04	1.00	10:05
1:51:05	11.00	10:05	1.00	10:06
2:00:53	12.00	9:47	1.00	9:48
2:10:49	13.00	9:56	1.00	9:56
2:13:46	13.30	2:56	0.30	9:49

Note to self – never do a 2 hour run without water again!!