Wednesday - 10 miles
Saturday - 3 hours at heart rate zone 3 (15.5 miles)
Sunday - 3 hours 10 minutes (19 miles)
On Monday I had the opportunity to run while it was still light. I don't get that chance often during the week, so even though I'd run Worthing Half the day before, I laced up my trainers and headed out. It was a beautiful evening and I had a lovely run, though fairly short as I was feeling sore and didn't want to overdo it.
Saturday - 3 hours at heart rate zone 3 (15.5 miles)
Sunday - 3 hours 10 minutes (19 miles)
On Monday I had the opportunity to run while it was still light. I don't get that chance often during the week, so even though I'd run Worthing Half the day before, I laced up my trainers and headed out. It was a beautiful evening and I had a lovely run, though fairly short as I was feeling sore and didn't want to overdo it.
Wednesday was a bit of a rough day at work
and I knew I needed to get some decent miles in. I didn't take any pictures but this sums it up pretty well:
I decided to do my usual river run with a
lap of the Serpentine, but by the time I got to Green Park it was already pitch
black. As I came up the final hill, a
male runner appeared alongside me and we matched each other's pace for the last
few hundred metres to Hyde Park corner.
Sensing an opportunity, I asked him which way he was going, and he
replied he was running to Hampstead.
He asked why and I explained I didn't want to run the Serpentine on my
own in the dark and he agreed to accompany me most of the way. His name was Paul, he was training for
Brighton marathon, and the miles passed easily as we chatted about running,
work and kids before saying our goodbyes at Marble Arch. It's very rare this happens in London and it
made what was a pretty miserable run into a really great experience. I doubt I'll ever see him again, but cheers
Paul. You're a star!
This weekend I had two back-to-back long
runs, so to make things easier on myself I decided to run the heart rate run
that I skipped last weekend. I'd never
heard of this before but George advised that for some of my training runs, I
should try to keep my heart rate below 135.
I discovered I can set my Garmin to tell me if I'm running in zone 3,
which is 125-142 beats per minute and it lets me know if I'm going too fast or
slow.
Saturday was a particularly mild day and
the route I chose was loops around the forest in my trail shoes. It was MEGA MEGA muddy and because of the
heart rate thing I had to go quite slowly, so I took lots of pictures! Here's a collage:
I managed an average heart rate of 139, so
slightly higher than planned but not too bad.
I got very, very muddy and slipped over twice, luckily I wasn't hurt.
As I was running, I started wondering what
the point was of running so slowly, so I googled when I got home and
apparently:
"Running
in zone 3 is especially effective for improving the efficiency of blood
circulation in the heart and skeletal muscles. This is the zone in which lactic acid starts
to build up in your bloodstream.
Training in this zone will make moderate efforts easier and improve your
efficiency".
On Saturday afternoon, I went down to the
running shop to invest in some new trainers.
After a very helpful conversation with the staff, I have ordered these
little beauties:
When the going gets tough, the tough go
shopping. Running trainers are possibly
my favourite indulgence these days and I can't wait to take them out for a
spin!
On Sunday, I went out with Horsham Joggers again. They were doing 18
miles, but I needed to do 3.5-4 hours so I ran to the start point to add on an
extra 3 miles. It was all going well and
was an exceptionally beautiful route....
....until about 12 miles when I started
getting some pain in my calf. I put it
down to yesterday's hills (and failing to do any stretching whatsoever
afterwards - naughty)! This run was pretty
hilly as well and as time went by I was starting to get the odd stabbing pain
as well as muscle tiredness. As it
happened, the route went past my house and I decided to bow out there and get
in the bath, so I didn't quite get 3.5 hours.
It's been a pretty big week for mileage, plus 350 metres of ascent in
the last couple of days.
Feeling OK though and next week is a
step-back week. Now it's time for a
date with the foam roller *cries* as I was having a few issues just walking home from the station...
As ever, you can sponsor this insanity
here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/marathonmadness
Note: I haven't been sponsored for a while and it
always cheers me up, so if you were thinking of getting round to it, now would be a very good
time. Thank you xx
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