Sunday 28 July 2013

Basingstoke Half Marathon: Training Post #2

This evening was only our second training run. I know I posted about excuses for not exercising a few months ago, but I have been exhausted this week. However, today we ran a longer route; a lovely, scenic 4.5 miles around Old Basing in Hampshire.
 
We ran the first stint, 1.4 miles, in 13 minutes, which equates to around 9 minutes per mile. I'm happy with this because it's not a bad speed; whenever I start running after a period off, I come back at 10 minutes per mile. I attribute this to my boyfriend naturally having a faster pace than me, and perhaps me being more in shape than I realise. Also, our first running stint during training run #1 was 10 minutes, so that's already a 3 minute increase.
 
The second stint was 15 minutes, during the end of which it began to rain. GLORIOUS, although Maxx didn't think so (he likes the heat... weirdo). The final stint, which had an uphill start, was 10 minutes. The incline was really hard, but I pushed through by looking slightly ahead of me at different markers, for example: a house, a pile of horse poo, a distinctive shrubbery. Then it got harder so I stared at my feet! This method is not the most highly recommended, but sometimes you just don't want to know how long you've got before you reach the top. It was cute because Maxx congratulated me on reaching the top, after a particularly strange and pained noise by me upon finishing the incline (I'm supposed to be the runner, waaaa why is he finding it so easy?).
 
We had two 5 minute walks, making 38 minutes of running. I am very satisfied with our run today, although my pacing was quite bad and Maxx is still conscious of breathing correctly. However, it definitely felt easier already to run for longer, and having a running partner who naturally runs faster than me helps to push me further.
 
Monsieur has new running shoes, which were worn for the first time today, so I will see if he wants to do a guest post next week!
 
xxx

1 comment:

  1. hahaha..."strange and pained noise" I've heard it a few times :) xx

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