Back on plan this evening … one mile warm-up, four miles at half marathon pace, one mile cool down.
I wasn’t particularly keen to go out tonight. Not that anything was wrong, I was just feeling lazy.
But out I went. I always find the warm-up mile difficult. I feel creaky, bits hurt, my breathing is laboured etc. etc. but that’s the point of it after all – to get warmed up!
I didn’t make it any easier on myself tonight by thinking it’d be a good idea to do my warm-up along the Toome Road which, if you know Ballymena, you’ll know is a steady rise from bottom to top.
That done it was time to focus on my half marathon pace which, for me, works out at 11 minutes per mile. This was exactly the same pace as yesterday at parkrun so I felt fairly confident I’d be able to do the same again.
I was a little quick over the first mile, 10:37, but I didn’t mind. It was good to be able to do, I felt comfortable and fluid plus it demonstrated clearly the benefit of the warm-up.
That said, I made the effort to slow things during the second mile, clocking in at 10:54, although the slight undulating nature of that part of the course possibly contributed.
Miles three and four were fairly similar, 10:46 and 10:51 respectively. Nothing really much to report there other than my frustration at experiencing a bit of stop-start due to traffic, waiting to cross roads and people stopping me for a quick chat.
Admittedly, that kept me a bit fresher than I might have been so it was good to come in below 11 minutes for each mile. I would worry more if I had struggled to make the time even with the short breaks.
Tonight’s run brought me up to almost 25 miles for the week, which is good considering last week’s almost non-event. It’s reassuring to have another decent week in my legs … although that’ll pale into insignificance when set alongside the week I have ahead of me!
HUFF, PUFF AND SHUFFLE 