The plan for this run was 6 miles easy, then turn round and do 6 miles back at half marathon pace. I walked over to Itchingfield church and after finding how to get round the closed church yard set off at a gentle 8:40 pace. This was pretty fast for a gentle run but the HR was good, especially as this week has been incredibly hard. Along with the two runs and bike ride that I've written about I've also played several hours of rounders, a little bit of badminton and done a gentle bike ride with work people.
With all that in my legs they weren't happy at having to drag me around for another 12 miles and started aching from the off. In particular my quads and calves were aching from the previous days bike ride. Fortunately gentle running tends to help rather than hurt, and they steadily got better as I progressed.
Due to having had a lie in and letting breakfast settle I didn't start running until almost 11 o'clock and the roads were much busier than when I usually set off and I really didn't want to be running fast on busy roads. It took me 1.2 miles to get to the down's link at Christ's, so I decided not to turn until 7.2 miles in order to finish on the track.
Heading this way along the down's link takes me through Southwater, and as I entered the country park I passed Weeman and Tom finishing off their run (in that order). Seeing people I know out running always gives me a little lift, just a shame it was at the start of the run rather than the end when I'd need it.
The first six were solid, possibly some of my fastest easy running, averaging 8:41 min/mile at 163 HR. When I took it up I was aiming for 185 HR, I only made it to 180. As this took me to 7:05 min/mile pace I stuck with it. The pace stayed at about 7 minute pace for 3.5 miles, but my heart rate crept up to 188. As such I decided to take the pace down to 7:30 min/mile. In retrospect this may well have been an error, even though my heart rate was above where I wanted it to be I was in a nice rhythm and possibly should have stuck with it.
The new pace was manageable for a mile or so, but steadily got harder. Towards the end there was even a few paces of walking, and I finished around 8 minute pace but varying greatly having to battle with myself most of the time. Having finished the twelve I was still far from home, and again I got my maths wrong and added twice as much as I needed to. I walked and jogged home, taking the total distance to over 15 miles and me beyond the half marathon distance for the first time in a long time. Not planned but a nice little bonus.
I was over the moon at how fast I could go at 185 bpm, but this isn't maintainable for the half marathon though I think I could do more for a 10k with a proper taper.. I think I'm going to aim for 7:15 min/mile for the half, which is now only three weeks away. I'll find out for sure the week before, when I'm going to try to do 9 miles at that pace. If I have to drop it back to 7:30 for the race I'll be happy enough, but it's always nice to go faster.
Distance: 15.16 miles
Time: 2 hours 21 minutes 19 seconds
Heart Rate: 162 bpm
Map: Here
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