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| Tidal Thames, on our way to the Barrier |
With a couple of months to go until my trail marathon challenge, Stonehenge to Avebury (more details here ) it's time to start cranking up the long slow runs. Expert coaches like Karen Weir stress the importance of keeping these slow, which I tend not to do. I run at my marathon pace, these days, mostly because my running buddy, Sarah can run her 26-mile races in 3.30 or thereabouts, and I struggle to get under 3.57. This discrepancy means that slow running for her is about 8.45minute miles, and mine should be over 9. I'm comfortable enough running at the faster pace, though, but know the training miles done like this may culminate in fatigue before the taper. Today we were joined by another friend, who prefers half marathons, and is coming back to running after a long lay off, so is more comfortable running slower. However we ran, aand as we ran with chattered on about work, husbands, teenagers, money worries, living in Lewisham, and the pace seemed to suit. We all had our niggles (quite apart from husbands and teens) - Sarah's leg was still giving her gyp on the hills, my hormonal stress incontinence was threatening a soggy gusset scenario, Jacqui was feeling puffed and defeated by hill climbs, so sometimes one or other of us fell behind, and called the band to stop for stretching, water breaks, admiring the view. Best of all, we enjoyed the run, and the company, and for me, the feelgood mood lasted all the livelong day, even when the rain set in this afternoon.
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