Tonight was a tempo run. A mile warm up then three miles at 9:00ish pace and a mile cool down. The last time I ran this pace was several weeks ago when the training was really kicking my butt. Tonight was a tale of two halves. The first half I struggled slightly to not only find the pace but to cope with very tired legs and feeling slightly overwhelmed by the pace. Feelings of ‘I can’t do this’ crept in often. Then I hit the halfway point and things turned around, as they often tend to do. I find in tempo runs I tend to struggle for about two miles and from then on I hit my stride and find it only slightly harder than an easy paced run. Tonight was no different. After about 1.75 miles I hit that point where everything clicked and the pace seemed much easier. I even had to continually rein myself in from 8:40-8:45 territory for much of the last mile. The pacing was set between 8:48-9:08 and I managed it at 8:56 per mile. I like to keep it in the middle.
Tomorrow is a rest day and I even have the day off work. I’m going into central London to a running-specific shop to look for a bum bag (fanny pack to Americans) or waist belt thing of some sort for carrying gels or other carb goodness on long runs and in the marathon. I’m looking forward to the trek.