Tuesday, February 05, 2008

7mile training run - Sweatshop Teddington


With the Valentine's 10k race coming up on Sunday 10th Feb, I decided to try running with the Teddington Sweatshop group to test my pace on longer distances. Most of my training to date has been my solo circuits around Teddington and I have had little to compare to apart from the weekly 5k time trials at Bushy Park on Saturdays.

The runners I ended up training with tonight turned out to be gearing up for the Reading Half Marathon and was a strong group. I was nervous and worried I'd not be able to keep up...

We started off from the Teddington Sweatshop and completed a figure 8 circuit around Teddington covering some of the areas I had trained on my own during the previous weeks, which was a relief as I knew the surfaces and where to avoid. (Training on unknown surfaces and environments can be quite tricky, and sometimes even dangerous. Make sure your first run in a new area is either with experienced runners on that road or take the first run really easy to just map the road out. You can always revisit it later and start pushing for a decent time. Safety First!)

The pace started out at around the 7:00min/mile mark, which I found very comfortable. We all were talking to each other about odds and ends and the first 5km seemed to pass quite quickly.

The second half of the circuit saw the pace pick up and I still felt OK. It was about this time I noticed my brand new funky running shoes had the laces tied up a little too tight. (Note to self, make sure they are not like that for the next run otherwise I will lose all feeling in my toes permanently...)

At the 10km mark I noticed I really had to focus on my breathing and timing. I could still talk during the run but it was not as easy as it was in the beginning. Things started to bother me and I was worried I might have to slow down a bit and let the guys go on without me... but I pushed through and soon was feeling confident as we took on the final stretch from Teddington Lock up the high street to the final stop back at Sweatshop Teddington.

Overall a GREAT run and I was very surprised to find out how far we had run. It could not have taken much more than 55min to complete although nobody held the official timing, but I go into the Sunday 10km race a lot more confident than I was before the training tonight.

The sessions at Sweatshop might become a regular for me if I can just make sure I get out of work ontime. Another note to self.... :-)

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