I've been worried about not running long and when I have run long it has not been good. I have the "magic" training month to get through then a couple of weeks taper into the Brighton Marathon and the sub 3-30 time.
The alarm goes of at 6:30 and I am so tempted to stay in bed. From somewhere I summon up the energy to get going. I run down to Bromley Park (confusingly in Shortlands) Fortunately it is light, if a little chilly. I then spend the next 2"40 running laps of the park. Every half an hour I turn and run the other way. This has the advantage of being totally flat. There are also no roads to cross.
I aim to run at a good slow pace. Initially I am running around 6:00 a km which is a fine long run pace. Then I gradually get faster. The advantage of running laps is that I have a couple of bottles of drink to sustain me. I also can strip of clothes as needed. Running laps also builds mental toughness.
Suddenly I am flying and really enjoying it. A banana feels like the best food ever and is eaten over four laps. In the end I settle to a pace of 5:30/km. Marathon race pace is 5:00/km.
Towards the end it gets tougher but I even manage to throw in a couple of minutes here and there of marathon race pace. With 10 minutes to go until the three hours I grab my discarded kit and run back up the hill to my house.
One mistake I did make was the nipples. In a long race I would always remember to Vaseline them. Today I didn't think to and suffer accordingly, though no blood
This went well. If I can bang out another couple of these long runs, the Marathon is going to go well.
30.10 km 2:55:04
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keep up the good work, not sure I could run laps for that long!
ReplyDeleteI am really glad you have managed to get the long run in as I know you have been a little worried about it if I read you recent blog entries correctly. Good call on reversing the laps ever so often
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