Leah O'Donovan

Today was a repeat of a session last done on 16 February: 1 mile warm up, 1 mile at 8:35ish pace, .25 jog recovery, repeat two more times, 1 mile cool down. The quick pace was certainly easier tonight than a month ago. The only problem is finding it and keeping it. I’ll start off too fast and try to rein it in but then be too slow. It’s a constant ‘fight’ with myself. It was very good practice tonight, though, as that’s the pace I need to hit in my 10k race this Sunday in Hyde Park. It’ll be my first race since October and my first 10k since September. My current PB (personal best) for 10k is 54:50, which is 8:50 per mile. So even if I can hit the upper limit of tonight’s pacing at 8:35-8:40 I will have a new PB, which is always nice. I have my second ever half marathon on 11 April in Paddock Wood, Kent. I’m more nervous about that one. 10k is easy now. I never thought I’d say that.

I didn’t get a chance to post on Friday as we were busy packing to go to Cardiff. So, that was six miles steady at 9:16 per mile.

Today, phew. Today was my first ever 15 miles. It was hard for several reasons:

1. I didn’t get enough sleep;
2. I underestimated the heat and didn’t have enough water;
3. I started the carb sweets too early (possibly); and
4. I ran too fast from mile 9 to 13.

I felt fine last week after 13 miles and felt as though I could have easily done two more. I’ve identified the above factors, though, that I think affected today’s run quite a bit. Definitely number two, if not all four of these factors really affected me today. Oh well, I’ve identified the problem and now I can fix it. It was a lovely day, sunny, warm and I had many miles of beautiful scenery in Cardiff. You can see the map here.

As mentioned yesterday, today was a seven miler. I did this in 10:28 per mile and ran home from work again via the same route as last week with a run by Hampton Court Palace to add on the mileage. You can see a map here.

You should be reading about a run of seven miles slow but I’ve shuffled the runs around this week due to a work meeting this evening and our trip to Cardiff this weekend. The seven miler will be done tomorrow and the six miles steady on Friday. Saturday’s easy four miles won’t happen and then we’ll resume our regularly schedule programming on Sunday for the long, slow run of 15 miles. Just to keep you in the loop. Happy St Paddy’s.

Tonight was the first in this training programme for a very interesting and almost relaxed, fun session: hills. You start with a mile warm up, then find a long hill and run up it for two minutes at whatever speed you wish, then walk or very slowly jog back down for three minutes to recover, as you do with speed work. Tonight, I did this nine times. You finish off with a mile cool down.

The reason I say it’s relaxed and a bit fun is because you’re not running constantly at the same pace. You go up, you come down. It seems repetitive but, actually, I find this session tends to go by quicker than some of my long runs because I have something to focus on. I’m not just running; I’m thinking almost time to turn around and go back up the hill or almost time to go down the hill. You don’t even have to worry so much about your pace, though the slower down the hill the better. Honestly, I did the repetitions up and down the hill for almost an hour tonight and it felt like about twenty minutes.

Here’s the schedule for the rest of the week. Saturday will most likely not happen since I’ll be in Cardiff getting ready to go watch Wales (hopefully) beat Italy in the Six Nations.

Well, today was a long run of 13 miles. It was absolutely b-e-a-utiful out there. The sun was shining and the temperature was comfortable enough that I was able to go out in just my running tights and a long sleeve shirt. No jacket or gloves required. This fantastic weather made the run so much easier! And fun! It was great to see the sunshine again and it’s just put me in the most fantastic mood. That, and the fact that the run was relatively easy fitness-wise. I’m feeling stronger, more powerful and more able to endure long runs. That, my friends, is what training is all about. I am glad to have hit that point because next week starts new territory. Next week is 15 miles, which I have never run. Fourteen is my highest mileage. Only one mile more to go so it should be a doddle, really. It’ll be in Cardiff too so that will be a fun map to look at, won’t it? And speaking of maps, here’s today’s. Enjoy your Sunday.

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.

I ran home today for my slow six miles. I mapped a route through Claygate as I mentioned yesterday. It was a nice route but there were a couple of drawbacks. Mainly, a lot of the route was very rural, which means little to no pavement to run on. I am alright running on the road as I’m wearing a bright pink jacket so I can be seen but when you come up to a blind bend you get a bit nervous. Happily I’m still here. The only other minor point is that it was a bit hilly in places. I have mapped longer routes through the same area. I may or may not run them. It’s a lovely route for scenery but I just don’t like having to run on the road. They’re definitely daylight hours runs, not for after it gets dark. You can see a map here.

Tonight was a speed work session. I started with the usual mile warm up at 10:40ish pace. I then did 8 x 400 metres (.25 miles) at very fast 8:00ish pace with 200 metre (.12 miles) recoveries. That followed with the mile cool down at 10:40ish again.

I felt good tonight despite feeling very tired when I left work. Since we got back from Norway I just do not feel rested. Even at the weekend I was rather tired. But thankfully the run tonight wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d thought. Especially since I was expecting the previous speed work pace of 8:26-8:46 and was a bit shocked when 7:47-8:07 flashed up on my Garmin. Tomorrow is a slow run which I’ve decided to do from work to home instead of coming home and then going out. It’s a new route that goes through the nice little villagey place of Claygate nearby. I’ll post a map tomorrow evening.

I tried to paste this week’s schedule in yesterday but it wasn’t working for some reason. Here it is: