* I can’t wait for it to get lighter and warmer in the evenings so I don’t have to put 20,000 layers on and look so reflective!

The idea behind splitting a run sounded amazing but honestly, no one told me it would hurt so much. Running on legs that have already ran that morning is a killer. If that is what a marathon feels like, I’m starting to question whether this is a good idea anymore!

My legs felt ok during the day. I mean, I could tell that I’d ran on them a couple of hours ago but they didn’t really hurt and I made sure I went for a walk at lunch so I could stretch them out. When I got home I was so determined to do my Miles – I’d planned a route (which in hindsight wasn’t the most interesting of routes) and I felt ready.

The first mile was ok –-> I love the first mile because the majority of it is on a slight decline = happy legs! After that, it was a bit of a disaster –-> my legs hurt, my feet hurt and my stomach wasn’t having any of it. I’m on strong antibiotics and one of the side effects is nausea –-> exactly what you want when you’re trying to train!

The first 4 miles were ok and despite all the hills, I managed to keep a reasonably good pace –-> 11:03, 11:11, 11:15 and 11:25. From mile 5 it started to get really painful and it was a struggle to keep running so I decided to adopt a run / walk strategy which seemed to help a little bit – if I could run for 3 songs, I’d walk for 1 minute. Although my pace was slower, it was a lot more comfortable and the breaks in-between really helped! I did miles 5 – 7 at 11:25, 12:25 and 11:29.

The last half a mile was horrible and I was so ready to go home. I walked the majority of it because running was starting to seriously aggravate my stomach and it wasn’t worth it –-> I finished it in 12:26 minutes, one of the slowest times I’ve done.

I ended up running 7.52 miles in 1:26 hours –-> an average pace of 11:27. Thankfully my slightly faster miles at the beginning made up for my slower ones towards the end. I thought my morning run was going to be worst but actually I had a much better pace and that pace felt comfortable. I can’t wait for it to get lighter in the evenings so I can see where I’m going –> I’m bored of running in the dark, it means I can only stick to certain streets!

I’m going to try split runs again but I’m going to aim to get 60 – 70% done in the morning and the rest in the evening. I’m also going to focus on my nutrition more –-> I didn’t eat enough during the day and so I was practically running on empty in the evening, something my body really struggles with.

Including my .5 mile warm ups and cool downs I managed just over 14 miles –-> 14.06 to be exact which is the highest mileage my body has ever done in a day so I’m happy with that! Every single run is a lesson and I am learning so much -> hopefully my worse runs will make my future runs better

** I’ve just started to keep a food diary and after yesterday’s runs, I had 2669 calories left to eat = bonus!!

My legs are seriously hurting today and apparently they’ll feel even worse tomorrow so I’m taking these days as rest days and I’ll go out for a little run on Sunday

What runs have you got planned for the weekend?

L x