Sunday 20 October 2013

Stevenage half training: 12 mile long run

This week's long run was a bit tricky to fit in, I had to run on Saturday morning, in between helping set up the Scout's Jumble Sale and cooking for a dinner party in the evening. I had 2 hours in which to run, never a good idea to give yourself a time limit!

The weather was much warmer than last Saturday, when I ran 11 miles. Fortunately I had an over-sized drinks bottle full of cold water to keep me company (although it really annoyed me after a few miles). Unfortunately I dressed for last week's weather, so I was too hot for the whole run, despite the water. I also needed a wee almost immediately after I set off (I did contemplate weeing in a bush).

I spent the first two miles weighing up the options of running two 6 mile runs (Standalone 10K route), so I could go home to drop my drinks bottle off and have a wee, but I decided I would never go out for the second lap. After that decision was made, I then couldn't decide whether to run last week's route with a bit added on at the end, or the full Greenway route (which would be a 14 mile run in total). The time limit I'd given myself was bothering me though, so I decided the 12 mile route was the best idea.

As I did last week, I kept my heart rate below 140 for the whole run, walking when it got too high. It got high a lot this week, possibly because of the heat rather than anything else, although I kept a closer eye on it and it never rose above 146, so perhaps I was a bit too keen. (When I checked my stats on FetchEveryone later, it said my 70% recovery was 146, so I think I've been walking unnecessarily...)

I felt a lot more tired around 9 miles, I ran past an elderly couple on Radwell Meadows, and said hello and "I don't feel like I'm moving at all!" Plod plod plod. But as soon as I got back to Stotfold for my extra mile I felt much better. I think next week I might add the extra distance on at the beginning rather than the end, because running near my home, only to turn back for another 2 miles, is quite hard.

So this run was quite tough, I had a lot to think about! But I did it, and finished in 2 hours and 9 minutes. Not massively over my self-imposed limit. And the rest of the day ran to military precision.

Next training run will be an interval session. Time to get my heart rate high and my legs moving fast :-)

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