Yesterday’s 9 mile run

[MissUnderstanding]

I’ve hit 9 weeks to go on the NRC HM plan and this week, the long run is 8 miles. I am tempted to channel my inner Eminem, but instead I decide to go with a Pacesetter dance mix on BBC Sounds. This was will be my longest run so far, beating my previous record of 11k. The conditions are perfect. Light, fresh and bright with some cloud cover. Ideal! I am excited.

5 minutes to walk up the well worn path to my favourite country lane. Butterflies everywhere. I try hard to resist the blackberries. The GPS on my watch struggles so I extend my warm up walk. Ten minutes. The GPS pings and I’m off. It’s a long, slow climb for the first km and I’m telling myself to keep it easy, be patient and stay chilled. Coach Bennett agrees! I reach a main road, turn back and enjoy the well earned downhill. Again, I remind myself to keep it easy and have to rein in the urge to pick it up and let fly. It’s far too early for that!

A few km in and it’s a short trip through a housing estate past a pub preparing their carvery lunch offering. I don’t even eat meat but it smells delicious and I allow myself a short burst of speed to get away from the temptation. There’s a turn up another lane, this time with a tree tunnel. This is my favourite hill to run up. At the top, I decide to keep climbing for another five minutes to find a quiet path through the shady trees that forms a tranquil 3km of gentle downhill. Everything is fully warmed up and working together. Coach B tells me I’m five miles in. How did that happen?

The path opens up to an exposured lane with beautiful views of the countryside and a local lake. Coach B throws in a couple of pace pick ups and I’m surprised that short bursts of 5k and mile pace are welcome rather than a punishment to be endured! I know I’m coming up to the final section of the run now and I’m beginning to think about the coffee. I’m not quite close enough to smell it yet but it’s enough to give me a boost. The last couple of miles pass quickly and I realised that I’ve taken a wrong turn and am a little further away than I’d intended. An extra mile? Im feeling good. Why not?!

After an hour and twenty nine minutes of running, I slow to a walk on the outskirts of the village. Nine miles! Now I really can smell that coffee. Five minutes of cool down walk past lots of windows which show me I’m not as red as usual. Progress! I stretch in a church yard and chat to a couple of cyclists who are impressed with my distance. I am super proud of myself! The coffee and bonus brownie (espresso caramel) taste extra good today. My husband picks me up and I bored him senseless with all the minute details of the run. Happy days!

The picture is a photo of one of the butterflies I spotted on the warm up walk. They rarely pose like this one did!

[Instructor57 Graduate10]

Well done !It's a great plan .

I had a few choice words for CB when he suggested I did a few sprints at 1 mile pace near the end 😁

Can't remember now , think it was the long run before 9 miles 🤔

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

I think it was this run! It’s a bit of a blur…the next one is 9.5 miles so that would fit. I was mentally telling coach b that he’d lost his mind if he thought I was going faster but somehow it happened.

Next week is a really busy one so it’ll be a small break before I get on to the next long run. I might fit in some shorter speed ones though.

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

Well done! That sounds such a great run and you are clearly enjoying the training 🤗

And doesn’t coffee always taste better after a run? ☕️🙂

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

It was the most satisfying coffee in a while! I’m really liking the training. The programme is great-the variety in particular. There was a tempo run earlier in the week that was awful but good for me. Mostly the speed runs have been my favourites for getting me way outside my comfort zone!

[Irishprincess Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

It all sounds great!

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10]

Phew.... very well done you and what a glorious run... super photographs too!

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

Thanks it was a really great one. So nice to be out without it being so sticky. I was actually chilly while I was waiting for my husband to pick me up. I’ve forgotten what that was like with the recent heat!

[CBDB Graduate10]

Oh wow! Big congrats on that long run!

I always wanted to try the BBC PACESETTER playlists, but haven't yet. Do you find them good to run to?

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

Thanks it was a nice one to do. I hadn’t really thought before that such a long run means I can fit in a lot of my local favourite places to go!

I like the pacesetter mixes because they’re long enough to not need to change halfway through!

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

👍🏽🎶🎧

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Oh wow, just wow, what a run, I could have done with a few trees for shade this morning though, that carvery temptation but…..coffee and brownie at the end too…. Fantastic very well done

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

Thanks, it was a good one! I’m still feeling smiley thinking about it!

[Hedgehogs123 Graduate10]

Great post, I could almost picture the route!! I always motivate myself thinking about a lovely cup of fresh proper coffee when I finish a run and a little something thrown in for an extra treat, so I'm with you there! I keep thinking about using the pacesetter on BBC sounds, so you've reminded me to have a look. I've made a decision that I will enter for a HM next April, which I'm slightly nervous of, so I'll have a look at the HM plan on NRC. Plus I'm definitely a Coach Bennett groupie ! ☺️ I've only ever ran 10 miles once but I keep being told if I've done 10 miles, then it's only a ParkRun on top of it, not sure that helps!! 🤣

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Hedgehogs123]

Thanks! It was such a nice route. I’ll definitely be using it again. As the distance increases, I might even be able to extend it round a lovely local lake with a super tea shop…you can probably spot my priorities there!

I really like bbc sounds. I’ve never got on with Spotify. I often use the radio 1 happy mixes/workout anthems which are 1 hour. For speedy runs, I absolutely love Rene LaVice’s drum and bass show or Danny Howard’s Radio 1 Friday Night Dance Party.

The HM plan is great. I haven’t managed every run every week but it’s still been brilliant for progress. Lots of varied run types and a lot of coach b! I would definitely recommend it.

I’m absolutely with you with “it’s just a park run on top”!!! That’s a long way after ten miles to me!!! Maybe it changes like when you do c25k, running for five minutes seems a long way and now that’s not even a warm up.