Long run yesterday, and following the easy week it was 21miles again. I ran exactly the same course as two weeks ago, but in the opposite direction. Milly didn't run. He had been ill the previous night, but he had put out the drinks for us at 4 and 8 miles. I had put drinks at 13 and 17.
With a very easy start I got to the 11mile marker with an average pace just over 7 minute miling and pulse exactly where I would expect at around 150-153. I realised I was heading for a rather unspectacular run, so decided to increase the effort somewhat. Being alone was ideal as I didnt have to consider what might be too fast or worry that I might burn out before the end and have to slow down again.
In a marathon I would aim to run really hard from aroundabout 15/16 miles to 22/23 miles (or ideally right to the end). So running the last 10 miles as hard as I could today was something of a recreation of that. I attempted to run with a pulse of 160+, which felt like a good hard effort. In the final 4 miles or so my pulse was above 165 and I really had to dig deep and concentrate to maintain the pace.
The result was a very respectable 6:58 per mile for the full 21miles. That is 1 second slower than two weeks ago and with a slightly higher heartrate which can both be explained by the pace change at halfway. Significantly, the final 9 mile splits were ran at an average of 6:46.
I'm really looking forward to next Sundays race around the Buttermere circuit. I am going to study my pace/heartrate data from last years race and prepare a plan to hopefully bring me home a few minutes quicker.
Milly has predicted I could run sub 2:40 in London. This is a bit of a tall order as it would mean an average of 6:10 per mile which I think is beyond me at this current fitness. I think sub 2:45 is the best I can expect, although at this stage, based on training data I am confident of beating last years time (my 2:52 in Boston was probably worth 2:48/49 at Londons better course.)
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