Today was the first long run for a few weeks due to last week’s Norwegian expedition. Today was hard, I’ll definitely say that. Eleven miles at slow pace of 10:30ish but it was hard going for the first few miles. Then, when I finally got into my stride I encounter the longest hill…ever! I ran up to Epsom Downs racecourse because I needed the extra miles. You can see it on the map here. Unfortunately I didn’t check the elevation on that map and was rather surprised at how long and steep this hill was. I was barely getting below 11:00 a mile it was so tough; but I slogged on and got to the top. I rounded the corner and it was all downhill from there, literally. I made up some of the slower pace by really throwing myself down that hill. There was one more hill awaiting me coming out of Epsom town centre but I’ve done that one before and was prepared for it.
My lungs and chest are hurting a bit now and I feel as though I have a bit of a chesty cough. This is because I gave my lungs such a good workout today with that hill. As hard as it was, in a way, it was a good thing. It really threw me back into the training properly so I’m ready to start up again. The runs this past week on Wednesday and Thursday, while challenging, were very low on the mileage scale. Five miles just isn’t a lot when you run 11, 13, etc. This week, though, the mileage really starts to creep up. Next Sunday I will 13 miles, which I haven’t done since December. Onwards and upwards!