Hello fellow runners. As George Osbourne is speaking on the radio at the Tory Conference, I thought it perfect time to ignore him spouting political clap trap and write a blog about my MAMMOTH run this morning!
I'd planned a long one today. After my Saturday Parkrun PB in my new Asics, I thought I HAD to do a long one because I hadn't run anything longer than a 7 for aaaaaaages. I even dispensed with the running tights today and wore shorts as the temperature was a healthy 19C. Another little adjustment to my gear today was setting the Audio Coach on Endomondo to "ON" because I really wanted to try and go mega slow and to find out my times each kilometre. I'm having trouble running at a slow long run pace when I'm on my own. I dunno why, but I always seem to go too fast and then burn out too soon and I sure as hell didn't want to run out of puff on a long run. So, how far today? I decided on 12K. I'd only run this distance once before so I was interested to see how I'd get on.
I had my headphones on (well actually, only ONE of them as I hate wearing headphones when running) and after my warm up 5 minutes, I set off. After just three minutes, the single headphone was pulling downwards on my ear whilst the other one which I'd tucked into the neck of my top was rubbing with alarming regularity on my left nipple! OUCH! It HURT! So....I stopped and took the headphones off and stuck them in my pocket and then set off again. Ahhhhhhhh.....that was MUCH better! I would have to listen out for the announcements from the phone in my pocket to get my times, but that was ok.
K1 a good slow time. K2 and K3 far too bloody fast at 5'42 per K. It was hard to hear the phone announcements as the traffic was so noisy, so at 4K I decided to change my route that I'd planned. I got to Kew Bridge and headed down to the Thames Path which would be quiet, traffic free and phone announcement friendly. What a good idea that was! I could hear quite clearly now whenever I reached a kilometre marker. My times were always nicely over 6 mins per K and with each one I was getting a tiny bit slower - which was FINE BY ME! I wasn't out of breath at 8K, my legs felt incredibly strong and my breathing was slow and easy. This slow running is the key to endurance. I know this - cos I read it on the internet!!!
9K and it was time to cross the river at Richmond Lock. I bounced up the steps and down the other side and made it to the main road. There was another 3K to go and I felt great. I knew the loop from where I was, to where I would end up was exactly 3K, so I set off at my gradually slower pace. It wasn't until 11K that my bum started to BUZZ! OUCH! Each step now was getting harder. I had to keep going because there was only another K to go, but my buttocks were singing "I want to break free" by Queen! "NO!" I said. "You can't break free. You HAVE to keep going!"
At last I heard the phone announcement say "12 kilomedderz. 6 minutes 5 seconds". I slowed to my warm down walk speed and felt pleased I had reached my goal. My breathing was still fine - I wasn't out of breath AT ALL, which is testimony to a slow pace. My bum was still doing somersaults of aches and pains, my glutes zinged and zonged, but I was in great mental shape.
My time? 1 hour 12 sec. Bovvered? Not one bit. My success today was running non stop, not getting out of breath and not having any leg problems until the final K (but that's just down to tiredness).
Thanks for reading and hope y'all have a great week.
Ta ra
Dan.
11K.....12K!!
Cows, kissing gates ... and my first 5K
