Training has begun for my planned coast path challenge – the run itself will involve quite high mileages back to back, with a couple of rest days, so my training is mirroring that. My training plan involves 3 days on followed by a rest day, before repeating, with the mileage for the three days on increasing at increments.
This week saw three 7-milers on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and actually, they were really hard work. 7 miles is a distance which is pretty comfortable for me, but I’ve been exhausted recently and have end of year exams next week, so all in all it’s been a tiring and library-heavy week. Running does make for a great library break, and our medical school has produced a series of podcasts, so yesterday’s run featured a couple of those. My pace was a bit on the slow side this week, and I struggled to pace myself consistently, but I’m hoping that’s a side-effect of exam fatigue combined with anaemia, and that in a week’s time once my iron levels are on the rise and stress levels on the decline, I’ll be getting my pacing sorted.
Run 1: 7 miles in 63:57 (average pace 9:06 min/mi) -> this was pretty grim in the rain, and it turns out that woods don’t shelter you in the rain/wind, they just drip on you more!
Run 2: 7 miles in 64:59 (average pace 9:25 min/mi) -> this was generally struggly, I went at 6am and hadn’t slept well…excuses excuses.
Run 3: 6.6 miles (messed up my route planning!) in 59:29 (average pace 8:54 min/mi) -> getting closer to my more normal pacing of 8:30 minute miles.
Today has been a well-earned rest day, tomorrow will see the start of training block 2, featuring 3 days of 8 mile runs, and Monday sees the start of my final exams of the first year of medical school!
iaspec 