Brutal long runs – w.e 25/1/2015

In yet another week disrupted by snow, I did manage to get the first hard effort long run in my plan done and by god it hurt.

The snow here has lingered a bit but for the most part went (although more is due) late in the week as Ally & I headed over to Dunford Bridge to do our first long runs on the Trans Pennine Trail in a few years as it’s been resurfaced and is reasonably flat so we’ll no doubt be spending more Sunday’s there as the weeks pass.

I’m still not there in terms of the overall mileage the 18/70 Pfitz plan outlines in the first few weeks but the snow and other commitments have got in the way a little so I’m making sure to get in a long run and a hard tempo effort in each week and this week it was a 7.5 mile one at 6:49/mile pace which is new ground for me and I have to say I was impressed with that one because it was done in the snow and ice wearing Kahtoola Nano Spikes. Not a hint of slipping.

Snow everywhere – The tale of recent weeks running.

The weekend’s long run was the focus though and as Ally and I are training at different speeds we opted for an hour our/hour back run so we each knew what time we’d get back to the car.

The TPT is a bit of a sod coming back to Dunford Bridge car park as it’s a very slight but definite incline and more often than not you’re running into a headwind so it’s a tough return leg.

In the end, I went 16 miles with the aim of going out steady at a little over 7:00/mile pace and coming back at more like 6:50/mile which I didn’t quite manage but the overall run was 7:01/mile for 16 miles so as a marker for London training I’m more than happy. I think at a push and without a headwind I could maintain that 7:00/mile pace for another 10 miles and that would put me around 3:03 – 3:04 for 26.2 which is reassuring and gives me hope of going under the 3 hour barrier that I’m aiming for.

It also shows how seldom I run flat road races these days as part of that training run was a half marathon PB of 1:32:16 which I also know I could take time out of in a race in future.

I hurt today though!

Dewsbury 10k next weekend which I hope isn’t ruined by snow, keen to see if I can whittle down the 37:50 I ran at the end of 2013 in Ribble Valley.