Found myself awake at 2am on Wednesday morning and just could not get back to sleep. Debated getting my first run of the day out of the way & then going back to bed but decided against it. Eventually hit the road & got in 30 minutes. The plan for the day was 12 miles in total, so rather than 2 x 6 I decided I was better off with a 4 mile recovery in the morning and an 8 mile in the evening. I read somewhere that when you have a reasonable level of fitness you really need to do at least an hour to get any benefit. Plus it would make sure I wasn't too fresh for the weekly long run on Thursday.
As the day went on I seriously faded due to the lack of sleep and for the first time since getting back in training I debated skipping the evening run. In the end I dragged myself out, deciding it was a slippery slope skipping runs & besides I had a friend visiting at the weekend so didn't want to be trying to make the mileage up. Was never so glad to get home, was practically in a daze!
Got a relatively good sleep Wednesday night but was still a little apprehensive (as I always am) about the long run. I was humming and hawing about whether to do 20 or 22 miles but in the end I said I'd aim for 20 & see how I felt. First few miles were grand and felt really comfortable. The pace was quite fast & by the time I hit the 7 mile mark I was averaging 7.05 minute miling. My HR if anything was a little lower than last week & I didn't have to force the pace at all. The second half is a little hillier so I knew the pace would drop but so far so good.
Around the 11 mile mark, after doing a "new section" on grass I started feeling a little lightheaded - not good. Told myself it was just the tiredness from sleep deprivation rather than tiredness from exertion. I also said remember how tired you were yesterday and you managed 8 miles so just do the same again (a mile had based during my deliberations!) This had the intended effect, along with a half mile downhill section. Felt fine for the next few miles and only really started to tire after 19 miles. At this point I decided I had to run for at least as long (in time) as last week, which as I was going to be at least 10 secs/mile quicker that I would do 21 miles, even though I hate running odd distances for some reason (at least it wasn't prime!)
My pace dropped down to just under 7.30 for the miles 19 & 20 but managed to pick it up for the last one just so I knew I could :) As per last week my HR dropped with the pace suggesting (to me that my legs are behind my heart & lungs)
Wednesday: AM 4miles @7.58 HR129
PM 8miles @7.36 HR130
Thursday: 21miles @7.12 HR139
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