Week 1 - Wednesday. I had intented to jump onto the Wii Fit for some light exercise but when I got home, had some new techy toys to play with that got delivered so the training was a write-off.
Thursday. I am really feeling tired in the afternoon. Not sure if this is the week's activities catching up with me or that I have slashed the amount of calories that I eat in a day (will summarise this on the week's summary report) or that I have been quite active at home (had to do some visting this week), but I am really struggling to focus on my work. Normally I would consider myself highly motivated but I'm definately struggling today.
Get the workday done and start driving home. I really do not want to do the run but I figure that I need to dig deep, remember what it is I want to achieve, and think to the people that have inspired me to do this, so I get home and get changed right away, get the good lady and off to the park again for Run 3. 4 kms again and I want to try my first goal of completing the first km without stopping. The 1k mark is right at the top of the first incline, then it flattens off till we take the sharp right for the big hill.
Got properly prepared this time. No stupid jacket, earphones wired down the back, playlist is in order, so its the usual quick warm up, Tunes on and Map My Run onto record. Off we go...
Tip:
On my run on Tuesday, I got a terrible stitch. Almost crippling actually that really hampered my progress. Got some great advice on this from some colleagues. I thought that a stitch happens when you eat or drink something too soon before exercise but this is actually a myth. The truth is that it is actually to do with your breathing - not getting enough air to the muscles. There is a good article on the RunnersWorld.Com website here.
Almost as soon as I set off, my head clears and I am in the game for the run and thinking to myself - well done for motivating yourself to do this! Setting off at a good pace again and breathing deeply as I go, I manage keep running till I hear the 1km marker in my ear - Just where I expected. What I should have done was keep going as I was 6 strides away from the flat but no, my overwhelming sense of achievement made me decide to take a breather and get walking. So walk it was, but only for a short distance before I had a good word with myself and set off to the first hill.
Still struggling on the big hill (running / walking) but keeping going the whole time. I get to the top and get going again. It's all down hill so I decide to try and keep a slower pace, and breathe in deeply so catch my breath without slowing to walk. This seemed to work and I made it all the way down, past the 2k marker and well into 3. Johnny Cash started about this time and had the desired effect, although I did slow to a walk a few times, I was definately running more of the track than I had before and although feeling tired, was actually feeling quite pleased with and for the first time, starting to enjoy the run.
The rest of the course for fairly typical, analysis from Map My Run is below...
Points worth mentioning:
- Another good start, again possibly too quick on the off but once going, the pace was fairly consistent for the first km. No stops - acheivement earned!
- Still a lot of work to do on the hills, it is quite evident to see how the pace slows right down.
- Once on the downward slopes though, the pace picking up again with the walking breaks evident - need to work on this for next time - no walking on the downhills!!
- Second run at the initial slope war far worse that the first - need to focus on making that slope every time.
- Happy again with the sprint at the end - always a great way to finish!
- Time 27:41
I was really happy with this run today and it felt great at the end of it. Definately up for pushing it on the next run up to the 5k or preferably the 6 (3 laps) and definately want to run right up to the start of the big hill next time.
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