My plan in the run up to the canal races next summer (GUCR145, KACR145 and LLCR130) is to get fast and get tougher.
I know I can do 100 miles already, but an extra 30 to 45 is almost an entire race in itself.
I want to get fast on shorter distance to build my engine.
And to that end I have signed up to Battersea 10km in January.
I’m not a fan of short distances. The only way to do them is to go hard or go home! And I’m not a fan of breathing through my arse on a race!
I went up to Northampton over the weekend and had a go at parkrun to see where I am in terms of fitness and ace after a summer of running the Centurion Grandslam (4 X 100 mile races over 6 month period).
I went out fast. Too fast. “But I feel fine” my body was telling me….. So I kept on with it deciding that I must be fitter than I thought.
The first mile passed in 6 mins 41….
And then I started feeling woosy… As in a bit light headed and that I was going too hard. So I pulled back the pace to around 7 a mile.
How stupid am I!?
Why did I go out hard? Ego! 🤔 I felt great in the first mile.
Anyway the second mile passed in 7:12 which is slower than my usual pace over 3 odd miles. So the damage was done. 😱
The third mile was total hell. I felt like I was jogging. Even though I was still banging along at 7:25/mi.
Towards the end, I had totally had enough. I finished in 22:53 and almost a minute off my PB at parkrun.
It was slightly long but I don’t think I would have had an issue if I had not been such an idiot with my pacing.
I would have been better off sticking to the pace that I know I can do – 7ish a mile throughout.
Don’t go out too hard! 🙈🙈🙈🙈
The Untraining Ultrarunner 