8x400m. Speedwork. Horrible! Why does it hurt so much? It hurts so much at the time then disappears as soon as you stop. Towards the end of the session I started to think about the psychology of pain and thought about GI Jane’s “pain is your friend!” When you break down pain of running, what is it exactly? The work of breathing so hard, the pain in the leg muscles? For me it is more my mind saying stop, it hurts, it hurts! Once you push past that, ignore your head, running becomes marginally easier. That or the fact I only had one leg of the last 400m to go, I sped up rather than slowed down. 

Second marathon training run. Done! 10 miles at 10k pace plus 60 seconds. Ran along the parkland walk through Highgate village, down to Hampstead Heath, up to Parliament Hill and loop round Hampstead before returning home. The view from the top of Parliament Hill is amazing. The sun broke through the clouds over the city so diagonal shafts of light filtered through. Still pretty cold! One of the underground station attendants at Hampstead came and chatted with us. She was very friendly. She said that sometimes marathon runners come and run up and down the stairs at Hampstead station! Think I’d rather be running up and down Parliament Hill! The run back was brutal up Highgate West Hill. I was overtaken by two people which was slightly demoralising but I managed to run all of it which is one thing to be pleased of I guess! 

My long run was a good run this week. I ran with P along part of the Capital Ring. The Capital Ring connects green parts of London together, forming a full circle. In total it is 125km or 78 miles. Today we ran 10 miles starting from Crouch End, heading West towards Highgate, through Queens Woods, onto Hampstead Garden Suburb and part East Finchley before looping back and returning home before the rain set in. Sunday roast nicely earnt! Before we set out I was in a pretty mardybum mood. I had too much university and work work to do. It was cold and the thought of running 10 miles was not appealing. Yet because we ran at a nice, easy pace, had a chat about random stuff and were running through some really pretty areas of London my mood changed. Yes it was still hard at times. My hamstrings start to tire around 6-7 miles at the moment but when we had finished I felt really good. Virtuous that it was just 11am on Sunday and we’d done our long run. I forget how nice that feeling is coupled with that good physical feeling of oxygenated blood coursing through your legs and head, making you feel relaxed but energised at the same time. 

I ran the Finsbury Park 5km race last Saturday. It’s a great training tempo run but I hate it. It’s too fast for me and there are hills but I know it’s good for training and it’s over and done with quickly. One of my main problems with it is I only really get over my nerves once I’m nearly finished. I think this is why longer races suit me better – it takes me about half an hour to find my rhythm and settle in to a run. A 5km race gets me jittery. My legs feel like jelly and I can’t control my breathing. So I wimped out of running it this week and instead did my own interval training from Crouch End to Finsbury Park along the parkland walk.

The Parkland Walk is a wonderful thing. Four and a half miles of old railway track that has been transformed into a green walk, cycle and runway for North Londoners.Two seconds from leaving urban surburbia down some steps brings you to a disused platform and the feeling of being in the countryside surrounded by trees and greenery. It’s only when you run over a bridge do you remember that you are still in the middle of England’s capital city! It’s really quite magical. I particularly like October when you can stop off along the way to pick blackberries. One of the best things about the Parkland Walk for runners is the section from Crouch End to Finsbury Park is dead on a mile (or near enough – its 1594m) which makes it perfect for interval sessions.

On this occasion I ran some intervals. Untimed and unmarked. Just ran hard until I couldn’t run anymore. Then walked until I got my breath back, and repeated and so on. I often feel a bit demoralised with interval runs as I get worn out so quickly as you are pushing your boundaries to the limits but I know intervals are the best way to improve times. No pain no gain.

Running has been hard recently. I wonder if it’s always like looking through rose-tinted glasses. You never feel the pain when you look back fondly at a certain race or training run. Tough saying that I know for a fact that my PB half marathon was HARD and I remember battling with my head and my legs who kept wanting to stop at every step. The only way I got through the race was to allow myself an easy half mile every few miles before picking up the pace again.

Anyway, I’m also concerned that I’m still not enjoying running either at the moment. I think it’s because I feel like I’m back at the beginning of training. The weather is cold. I have too much work to do. And I’m putting too much pressure on myself to get good times rather than just running a distance because I enjoy it and it relaxes me.