Planned run 105 minutes ( 1 hour 45 )

Date: 7 Mar 2010
Time: 1:40:23 min
Distance: 19.33 km

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26424816

I did about 2km warm up before I started the timer on this run, so overall I did about 21.3km. I set off deliberately slow, trying to conserve myself for the later stages of the run. According to some calculations I have done I should be aiming for a 5:20 pace for these types of training runs.

I ended up with a 5:11 min/km average , and the last 3 km's were substantially slower than that. I faded really badly in the last 2-3 kms, mainly in the legs. I felt pretty ok overall though, and injury wise I am in good shape. I am finally getting over the left knee problem that has been troubling me since at least August last year.

I carried my water belt for the full distance too, and ran/drank the whole time. Only 860ml over the 21km distance. I did the run in the afternoon too, due to weekend activity disruptions. I got to bed at 12:15AM and thus slept in instead of running in the AM.

I graduate to 2 hour runs this Sunday, 4 in a row over the next 4 weeks according to my schedule. However I have a Half Marathon Race on 21st (Two weeks away). If all goes well I will finish that much earlier than 2 hrs !!

I then have 3 2hr 20 runs in a row, and move to 2hr 30s on 2 May. At that time I should be pretty shagged, and so the schedule drops back to a 2 hour run May 9. I have a 2 hour 40 run ( or a HM race ) on May 16 and then finally three three hour runs each week for three weeks. And then I back off the mileage for the taper leading to the race in July.

So I have a long way to go to get in shape for a half decent marathon race. As per last year when I was preparing for the HM, the most important things are to avoid injury, get rest and recover properly. When I get sick, make sure I do all I can to recover from that as quickly as I can.


Overall distance this week 33.6km
Overall last week 39.7km