Week 13, Day 2
Goal: 5 miles
of 2 mins mara pace, 10k pace, fast jog – total 7 miles
Actual: 5
miles of 2 mins mara pace, 10k pace, fast jog – total 7 miles
Note: I
switched Tuesday and Thursday’s run this week.
This was very
similar to the run I did last week early in the morning, except that the
intervals were slightly shorter. I found it a LOT easier doing it at this end
of the day rather than when I had to get up at a ridiculous hour. I had the
disadvantage that my body was aware I was going for a run (whereas on the early
morning run I don’t think my legs twigged until a couple of miles in) but I
knew that rather than a day of work in front of me, I had a nice warm bed when
I got home. A much better incentive.
One thing both
runs had in common was that I had to stop off at Tescos for a loo break again.
Luckily Tesco is almost exactly at the 1 mile point, where the warmup stops and
the actual run begins so it wasn’t too much of a disruption. Well not for me. A
few of the old ladies pushing trollies around did double-take when I walked
into Tesco.
In hindsight I
suppose I probably was a BIT noticeable dressed in my bright pink compression
socks, sky blue jacket (with neon bits), bright pink headband and skull buff
pulled up over the top of my head. Plus I had my headtorch on with the massive
battery pack at the back of my head. I probably looked like a miner that had
escaped from a rave. But with bloodshot red eyes from the cold wind. Me walking
into Tesco was like Moses parting the red Sea ... if Moses had been dressed for
warmth and visibility and the sea had consisted of blue rinsed shoppers.
I’d been for a
visit to the Asics Store on Oxford Street earlier in the day (and walked over 8
miles just in Central London!) so the neon on the new running gear was extra
bright and the new trainers extra white and sparkly. Not quite at the level of
Alex (AW’s) retina-burning orange shoes but eye-catching nonetheless. So I
might have stood out a bit.
My aim for the
next 3 weeks – apart from stay uninjured, not get ill and get to Paris on time
– is to keep my new sparkly trainers as new and sparkly as possible. I’d
actually forgotten that the GT2000s are quite this pretty! My other pair (which
are only 3 months old!) are now subtly shaded in tones of brown. If you put
them next to a bog they’d probably blend in quite well. In fact they look as
though they’ve evolved camouflage.
Ran a
different route tonight and it was nice to have a change. It was mainly on
cycle paths and next to busy roads so there plenty of other people around, but
none of them were in the way. No dodging around required – just enough of them
for it not to be lonely. The route was reasonably flat too – so perfect for
this sort of run. I could concentrate on the paces rather than trying not
to trip over.
I’ve got a bruise
on top of my foot which is a bit irritating and I ended up using Bacon Steve’s
style of shoelace fastening to avoid putting any pressure on it. It was a bit
irritating for the first half a mile but it didn’t cause any problems after
that. When I got home I made the mistake of googling foot bruises and worrying
myself it was a stress fracture before I remembered I dropped a box on my foot
last week. That’s another thing I’ll have to try not to do in the next 3 weeks
before Paris. After the marathon, I can drop boxes wherever I like, but I’d
prefer to get to the start line without too many avoidable injuries.
Distance: 7:06
Time: 58:02
Avg pace (incl
warmup/down): 8:13 min/mile
Paces used:
Fast Jog: 9 min/mile. Marathon Pace: 8 min/mile. 10k pace: 7 min/mile.
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