Having knocked a whole 40 seconds off my 5km times last week, I was raring to go this week and improve on other distances. First up was 10 miles through Twickenham and along the Thames to Richmond Bridge (and back). A lovely run and ground I’m familiar with – from almost 3 years of daily running commutes to and from work in Richmond.
The plan was to go for 7 minutes 30 seconds per mile – 30 seconds faster than the planned marathon pace. I managed to do 8 miles at this pace last week, so 2 more couldn’t be hard, could it? Got off to a slower start – about 7:45 per mile and kept it around that level, edging up to 7:56 at one point and then back down to 7:48 ish.
Having concentrated on pace runs recently, I’m convinced it’s all about getting your starting pace right. If you start too slow, it’s very difficult to improve. The so-called split run (where you do the second half faster) is actually very difficult to do. The first 1/2 mile or so is critical and where you need to get the pace right. With 35,000 other runners in the London Marathon this is even more challenging, as you’re not running at your ideal pace from the go. This needs some thinking about – if I want to achieve my 8 minutes per mile pace.
Although I did set off slower than planned today, I finished a whole 4 seconds faster than 2 weeks back when I did the same run. Not a lot – particularly over a longer distance – but it made me think what can you actually do in 4 seconds. A lot according to a quick Google search (side note – Google still my favourite search engine by a long shot; you know they’ve got something right when your 5 year old understands the concept of “Googling” something)…
- Folding a shirt in 4 seconds – and yes someone’s filmed this being done
- Catch a piranha
- Form a lasting impression (4 Seconds)
It’s also the name of a marketing company that I have no connections with and until tonight hadn’t heard of. But it’s a cool name and I like their site and what their aims are!
Happy running!