Tuesday 29 September 2009

Day 157 - uphill struggle

Type - Steady run

Distance - 7.1 miles

Time - 53 minutes 21 seconds

I had a break from running to attend a wedding over the weekend. I was well rested and thought that I would do a decent, long run today to consolidate the distance that I reached last week. I had to extend the usual Highbury Loop run with a northern jaunt up to Manor House and back down through Stoke Newington (map).

I made a blistering first mile, going uphill to Manor House and making the first mile in 7 minutes. Too quick. Far too quick. If I am going to be running longer and longer distances I need to be more careful about my initial warm up, and not using up all of my energy in the opening miles. I slowed down a touch, but by mile three my legs were feeling jelly like and I was slowing down. It was only by mile four that I managed to get back into something like a rhythm.

The course was of varying gradients, with a few climbs (admittedly not of great ascent, but noticeably uphill). I managed to mark my miles on this run, and could control the pace after the stupidly quick first mile. With a little further work I should be able to get a very decent eight mile time within the fortnight. By the end of this run, however, I was feeling slightly abused.

But I managed to get a very respectable time which put me at 7.4 minute miles for the seven mile plus distance. Given the course had a fair few climbs (up to Manor House, up along Canonbury Road and up Highbury Hill) this compares well to the largely flat Thames run.

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