Resounding Success

Happy Valentine's Day, all. Mine is proving particularly happy so far on account of having sustained my 7 minute mile over 13 miles. I am especially chuffed, as I was hoping for 7.5 min/mile which is what I got in ideal conditions last summer.

I think this success is owed to three things:

• Firstly, consistent pacing. I've run enough lately to have a good grasp on what 7 m/m (=13.7 kph) feels like. For the first four miles I was holding back, not over-exerting myself. For the middle four, I was giving it all I comfortably could. For the final five, it was a constant exertion to squeeze every last sniff of pace out of my body. My pace was probably slightly slower at times during those final five, but I finished strong and I was quite steady over the distance as a whole.
• Secondly, preparation. Despite the ups and downs of the last six weeks, I have worked hard, concertedly tracking progress towards my goals. My average speed in the last three weeks has been consistently higher than in the first three. Training has such a big pay-off over time. As I said, my run last May was 1h37m, compared with 1h31m today. However my first 13 mile run, as I recall, was in the region of 2h10m in March 07. I most pleased that my performance over shorter routes has paid off on long distance. I've done 20 runs this year and the average length was just over 6 miles.
• Thirdly, that old cliche: attitude. I had such a drive to do this today and it undoubtedly sped me on my way. Running for an hour and a half is such a mental battle, and setting oneself up to win that is so important. I was also spurred on by the desire to clock a good time. I had a 1h20m vocal trance mix that I'd recorded specially, followed by some "power tracks", on my iPod Shuffle. As the end of the mix approached, the urgency to cover the remaining distance increased and the power tracks got me through the final couple of miles. It was an effective combination.

I had a great route - basically a trapezium down Edgeware Road, along the edge of Hyde Park, through St. James' Park, Green Park, over Westminster Bridge, along the embankment and back up through Hyde Park via Sloane Square. A lot of these areas are fondly remembered from runs in years gone by, not least from several 13 mile routes. I limited myself to just a few photos, not wishing to break up my running flow too much (my 91 minutes admittedly comprises a small deduction for taking these pics. I suspect, however, that one of the reasons my time was so good was a considerably higher distance-to-photo ratio than usual.)

The lake in Green Park was particularly manky. Been a while since I'd been there.

Battersea power station. Always an icon of the Southbank. Both sides of the embankment are simply stupendous running routes, understandably popular - throngs of runners. I suppose 11am on a Saturday is probably not the most exclusive time to run anywhere, really.

View across the river to Battersea Park. You can see the Peace Pagoda in the distance. Battersea Park is great for running - I was sorry to have been able to include it this time.

Further to Monday morning, I remembered another waterfall, albeit more contrived than in Holland Park. This one is in the nice little garden area at the south eastern tip of the Serpentine in Hyde Park.

All in all, a resounding success. I'll have to see if I can replicate this performance over the same distance again several times. It remains to be seen whether I've actually got a shot at running even faster on the day. While cutting off six minutes to get 6.5 min/mile would be amazing, I'll nonetheless be satisfied doing as well as I've done today.

After an especially fast and gruelling uphill final mile, not to mention the symptoms of a cold I'm brewing, I was, needless to say, not a little worse-for-ware upon arriving home. Warming-down felt tremendous, however.