I have had myself a great little weekend. The best part about the weekend was knowing that I’m not going to work next week and will instead be enjoying 7 days of relaxation doing absolutely nothing. It would be great if we were going away somewhere fantastic but alas, we are not. I’ll still take it though. A week off work is always a winner for me!
Anyway, back to the weekend. Saturday was fabulous because I enjoyed a day in sunny London town. I don’t live too far from London but don’t seem to visit all that often – perhaps once or twice a year. I guess, as much as I enjoy it while I’m there, it’s best dealt with in small doses.
I made sure to make pit stops at some of my favourite spots.
Food gawking at Borough Market. I love this place and they seriously sell everything. The free samples go down a treat too! 
Chickpeas for lunch? Yes please. 
From Borough Market:
- Pear and Vanilla Butter;
- Spanish smoked paprika;
- Mini Magoo’s Handmade Cherry granola;
- Plus some unpictured (because I ate them!) medjool dates and a huge slice of low fat/low sugar/wholemeal carrot cake, which was surprisingly delicious.
From Whole Foods:
- Italian Farro;
- 5 Grain mix;
- Apple Cider vinegar;
- Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter;
- Mexican Drinking Chocolate;
- Plus an unpictured sachet of Spiru-Tein Vanilla protein powder, Spiru-Tein protein bar and a shaker cup (it was a bundle set).
Mmmm, tasty treats. My taste buds and stomach will be very happy indeed.
I usually go to Hummingbird Bakery as well, but alas the hummus and carrot cake filled my belly and, try as I might, I wouldn’t have been able to get a cupcake in there. In hindsight I could have gotten one to go and saved it for today but I didn’t - you live and learn!
It was a lovely day out in London.
Today has been pretty low-key but it started off with a great run. I totally rocked out 7 miles before breakfast – oh yeah!
Mile 1: 09:51 min/mile <-----starting off nice and slow
Mile 2: 09:21 min/mile <-----warmed up and getting a bit faster
Mile 3: 09:30 min/mile <-----trying to keep a comfortable 09:30 pace
Mile 4: 09:31 min/mile<-----trying to keep a comfortable 09:30 pace
Mile 5: 09:34 min/mile<-----starting to flag – needed some fuel
Mile 6: 09:32 min/mile<-----not far now, perking up a bit
Mile 7: 09:14 min/mile<-----bringing it home!
Total time: 1 hour, 7 minutes and 24 seconds.
All in all, it was a really good run. I had originally planned to do six miles but at the three mile mark I decided I could probably push it to seven and I’m glad I did.
As a bit of background, I only started running in spring last year. I used the walk/run method to learn to run two/three miles and then just increased my distance gradually to build up to longer runs. Up until about October last year I was running three times per week which comprised a short two mile run, a mid-length four mile run and a long six mile run. During the winter I only ran intermittently and never for more than four miles Last year I never ran more than six miles, therefore the fact that this year I have completed this seven mile run and also an eight mile run a few weeks back makes me very happy. Hopefully, I will be able to make it into double digits before the year is out.
Anyway, today’s run was great. As it was going to be a long run I set off nice and slow to conserve energy. I decided I didn’t want to go above a 9:30 min/mile pace so I kept an eye on my Garmin to make sure I was staying within the 9:30 – 10:00 minutes per mile range. I knew that if I went any faster, I would stand less chance of being able to complete, or exceed, my six mile goal. This is just one of the reasons that I love having a Garmin. Without it, I am running ‘blind’ with only a rough idea of distance and pace. I love to know exactly what I am doing, mainly for reassurance – if I don’t have anything that tells me I definitely ran seven miles, I start to doubt myself.
I started to flag at around mile 4.5. Unfortunately I am not great a fuelling my running. I had two dates before I left because I had heard that these were great little nuggets of energy to eat pre-run. Personally, they didn’t do very much for me and I didn’t notice much of a difference to when I run without eating anything beforehand [I don’t recommend running on empty – I am stupid!]. I didn’t have any fuel mid-run and in fact I didn’t even have any water [again, I am stupid!]. I hate carrying things when I run but as my runs get longer I am going to have to try and figure something out. No fuel and no water is not going to work, especially when the summer temperatures really kick in.
Despite flagging, I was able to keep my pace and just kept on trucking. I pretty much felt good the entire time and despite the dip in energy I was able to keep my pace up. I just concentrated on having a good time, observing nature and thinking things through. Running rocks!
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