A couple of old friends actually.

First I found my favourite running gloves in the pocket of an old coat  (now you know where to look for yours) which are not only cosy but more importantly small so when they come off after the frist mile they are compact to tuck in my bra. I also grabbed my Thunder Run buff from this summer for the first time to keep my hair back, ears warm and stop me going out totally dressed in black from head to toe.

But  my most successful choice of old friend was putting Audiofuel back in my iPod.  I haven’t run with music recently but now I’m starting my marathon long runs I wanted something to listen to today for 10 miles round and round Hyde Park.  Most music bugs me over a long run with it’s changes in tempo and lyrics so I decided to plug into a continuous long run training mix and see how it went.  It went really well.  Maybe too well as I probably ran at too fast a pace for a long run.

Audiofuel was just right, it’s a smooth continuous couple of hours at a consistent tempo (starts easy, builds, then cools down) the regular beat gets you into a nice long run rhythm and the absence of many lyrics means it doesn’t interfere with your mind’s wanderings while running. A bit of coaching gives you just enough motivation every 10mins or so you don’t feel alone and forgotten! And it was great to hear after an hour or so that my training was helping me to run a good time in my marathon! I hadn’t listened to this one for a year or two (over-did it when I first got it) and really enjoyed hearing some of the tracks again. I even turned back on the way home to loop around Round Pond when my favourite came on. And because some are 10 minutes long a whole mile or so can fly by before you know it

Janathon day 5. 10.37 miles  in 1.37.50