mike[space] dot net

Running continued today with a whole new milestone. After the thrill of my first serious interval training session last week, which gave me the biggest post training high I've ever experienced, I decided that today would be a distance run. I've found that a pace of around 6 min/km works out quite well for me as a sustainable pace, anything faster than that and I start to feel the strain too early to get any meaningful distance in the run. So off I went round Brockwell Park, my usual (I think I'm running regularly enough now that I can start using phrases like 'usual') stomping ground and got myself into a good rhythm. My longer runs have been roughly two laps of the park, which is around 6km, but I was still feeling pretty good at the end of the second lap, so decided that instead of just doing a half lap (for those of you who don't know the park, it's very conveniently setup for doing mini laps because of the path layout - check it out on google maps) I would push on for a full 3rd lap. I was surprised by how comfortable I was for almost all of it, and as I came to the corner for the end of the lap, I thought "might as well" and pushed on for the extra kilometer to prove to myself that I could handle the full distance of the upcoming race.

My time was 59:37. Given the hilliness of the park I've decided I can be pretty pleased with this, although I think it proves how optimistic my original aim of sub-50 for the race was.

However, it's not proved so good for the rest of my day. After an hour or so of feeling good, I ate an early lunch, and gradually found myself feeling more and more lethargic. In the end I had to go and have a nap, and even now I still feel really tired, and actually a little bit depressed (although this might be a secondary effect because I haven't got the work done that I wanted to). I spoke with Dave (my unofficial trainer), and we concluded it was most likely a hydration issue. So I've ordered a load of Nuun to help me hydrate better in the future.

Am very glad I've made the distance - gives me a lot of confidence for the race in September - but am a bit frustrated by the after effects. I think I'll take it a bit easier the rest of the week, so I can actually get some work done.