Apologies for the tantrum yesterday! I have resolved never to ask for advice on running forums again, at least when it comes to admitting any form of weakness. You are only a real runner if you easily can run 20 miles in simultaneous mud, rain, wind, snow and heatwave. No headphones or dogs, as you must not enjoy anything other than running. Also, when finished running you must post a screenshot of Strava to Facebook showing your 4m/km splits and a caption like “extremely ultra easy gentle run with only 1,000 of elevation over 20 miles” and be sure to tell everyone how EASY you found it.
(Oops, having another tantrum)
Anyway – I made it into central London for my long run and it was my best long run in ages! The main adjustment was the new pace. Before I was trying do long runs between 7:30 and 8:00 per kilometre (for me, an easy pace until I need to walk, then impossible to maintain), now I’m doing them between 8 and 9 mins per km, aiming for an average of 8:30. I ended up going a bit fast for the first few km and soon found it was easier to incorporate 100 metres of walking with every km than to slow down to an unnatural pace. In the end every km was within the limits except 1, 2 and 4 which were slightly too fast and 20, which I had a “I simply can’t run any further movement” and walked most of, before pulling myself together and returning to normal as Vauxhall tube station metaphorically appeared on the horizon.
But enough about pacing. My route for the day was:
1km from home to tube station
7.5km round Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, picking up on a lot of things I had totally failed to spot during either of my attempts at the Royal Parks Half, including a cute dog statue in Kensington Gardens.
1.5 km through Green Park (which I like a lot, it has the right sort of little hills, I must come here for a shorter run soon) to Buckingham Palace where I took selfies like a proper tourist.
1.5km through St James’ Park, which was full of extremely annoying people. Will route around this next time.
3.5km along the Thames to beautiful Battersea Park. One of my favourite parks! If only it had a hill, it would be perfect. Pretty shattered by this stage.
5km around Battersea Park.
2.5km back to Vauxhall to catch the tube.
1km shuffling from tube station to home. Note to self – this does not work. Once you have sat down on a tube after running 22.5km, your legs are not going to start running again, even if you are chased by a bear. Will not attempt this again.
I only have two long runs left before the marathon! One of these I have planned already and the other I have thrown open to a vote on Facebook. So far “Thames Path from Putney to Hampton Court” is in the lead.
Really glad I waited for nicer weather to do my long run. I’ve had enough of endurance and suffering – I just want to get out there and enjoy running, and enjoy the Brighton Marathon. I’m at peace with the fact that I’m going to be slower than I hoped. I just want to finish with a smile on my face.
<a href=”https://www.relive.cc/view/1450969653″>Relive video</a>
7:07 