Early morning long run

Today’s workout

• Run        12 miles                01:54:02               Avg: 9.30mm

 Yesterday was a day over over-indulgence – not only did I eat out for lunch, I then headed to the in-laws for a family dinner.  I offered to be the designated driver for the day as I knew I wanted to head out for my long run fairly early and didn’t want a repeat of hangover Friday! 

I headed to bed about midnight, knowing with the plan to get up at 4.30am to have some breakfast, then crawl back into bed before heading out for my run about 6.30.  I just could not sleep, I tossed and turned... but it was no good, the 17 black coffees I had during the day were conspiring to keep me awake.  I was so awake in fact, I was sure I would never sleep again.  I made a deal with myself – if I was still awake at 3.30 I would just get up and have breakfast.

Needless to say, at 3.40am I was chowing down on a bowl of porridge with honey and seeds.  Just after 5am I headed out for my run as the sun came up... beautiful!

It turned out I wasn’t even the only nutter out at 5am on a Sunday, I passed the same guy and a cyclist at two different points on my circuit... glad to know I’m in good company!

My plan was to run the first 7 miles at 10 minute miles then speed up and run the final 5 miles at 9mm.  The first 7 miles went by like a dream, lovely easy miles – legs felt strong and no problems from the dreaded blisters.  I still felt good as I sped up to start my 9mm but at mile 9 I got a bit carried away and ended up running an 8.30.  I really paid for this in the last mile.  It was torturous, was really hard work and I just could not keep my legs turning over at the required pace.  I got slower and slower but managed to pull out a sprint for the last 0.3 miles (it felt like a sprint but was actually only 8.20mm).

I tried out my new Nike arm sleeves. 

 I love the arm sleeves, I wore them with a t-shirt and they were ideal to protect against the slight nip in the air first thing, but as it heated up I was able to roll them down to cool off.  They are not too thick and stayed up really well without slipping, think they will be a regular addition to my running attire!  I went for a size small and they were tight enough to make my muscles look big ha!!  

I also tried out my new SPIbelt. 

 I don’t normally run with a belt but for safety reasons I have decided to start taking my phone with me on my long runs.  It is great.  The pouch is not huge but stretches to accommodate essentials such phone, keys and money will also fit in a few gels for when my runs get longer.  The best bit is it was so comfortable and didn’t move or bounce an inch then whole run, I actually forgot it was there.  The best part is it comes in a range of colours, I went for the black with pink polka dots!

So that was it, 12 miles done by 7.15am... time for a nap!