I'm still on holiday this week so managed to do my 3 mile recovery run yesterday and my faster 4 mile run this morning. It's so much easier to get up & go running when you don't have to go to work!
Yesterday Flino and I ran a steady 3 miles around Darley Park, my legs felt good after a day resting on the sofa on Sunday. The pace got quicker during the last mile and I ended up sprinting up Kedleston Road trying to keep up.
My splits were:
Mile 1 9.59
Mile 2 10.06
Mile 3 10.05
On my plan for today was -
" Warm up, 40 mins at 9 - 9.15 minute miles, cool down"
I decided to do the run this morning rather than try and fit it in with the Derwent Runners usual club run tonight as Rob had stressed the importance of them:
I wanted to make sure I ran at the right pace and had found it hard last week at the club run as I always talk too much! I also wanted to have a go at running a faster pace on my own rather than have Flino pace me.
I got up & ate my breakfast, watched some Olympic news, did some dynamic stretches - these are my favourites:
If I do these before I run I don't get that 'lead legs' feeling.
I jogged for half a mile and then increased my pace to the prescribed 9 - 9.15. It felt surprisingly ok, I kept checking my watch to make sure I was running at the right speed and headed down City Road. I turned up Haslams Lane and into Darley Park, ran past the tennis courts and back to Chester Green. I did a loop of the Green to add on some distance and then turned back towards the car park, over the Iron Bridge and back up to home.
The last half a mile was hard, I wanted to slow down and could hear my Darth Vader breathing creeping in. I didn't have the sprint finish of yesterday but managed to keep going until the 40 minutes were up. These were my splits:
Mile 1 10.01 (including .5 mile warm up)
Mile 2 9.12
Mile 3 9.18
Mile 4 9.12
Mile 5 4.29 (.5 of a mile)
Overall I was pretty pleased with myself! Just another 9 to do at that pace....
I woke up before my 6:10am alarm this morning, I'd been dreaming of running! I got up, put my kit on straight away, did some stretches in the kitchen and then went straight out.
It was perfect weather for a run, not too warm, not cold, a little bit damp. No-one about. I felt like I had the streets to myself. I ran down Keddleston Road and by the time I got to Five Lamps I felt almost ok. I had my i-pod in. This is what I listened to:
Alive - Pearl Jam
Bang Bang Your Dead - Dirty Pretty Things
Raise Your Weapon - Deadmau5
Don't Mug Yourself - The Streets
Stellify - Ian Brown
Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
It was only 3 miles. I didn't stop and when I got home I felt pleased with myself.
I don't mind getting up early, in fact I think I'm pretty good at it - alarm goes off, I get out of bed. Unlike Flino - alarm goes off, snoozes it, alarm goes off, snoozes it, repeat a few more times! I like the feeling of training first thing, I like that it's done & I can get on with the rest of my day.
On the way to work this morning Flino & I were talking about a programme that was on last night on BBC4 - Born to Run. It's about an Irish priest who has coached almost all of the Kenyan middle distance champions in the last few years. I'm going to watch it tonight and see if I can learn anything from him!
Today was a day when I was too busy. I had to go to Fareham for a meeting with work, this invovled getting up at 6, driving to Fareham, having a 3.5 hour (productive) meeting and then driving home & getting stuck in load of traffic. Result - I got home after 7pm, tired, hungry and still needing to catch up on a few emails.
In the past I would let this mess up my training schedule, I'd miss the run out, tell myself it doesn't matter and then later in the week I'd think, well I've not done that run so maybe I'll start again on Monday. But I can't this time. So I'm having my tea, an early night and I'm planning on running 3 miles before work tomorrow. Tomorrow is a rest day on the schedule - I'm not missing today's run - merely postponing it.
In other news, I learnt a good lesson today. I judge people too quickly. I need to stop. I shall add it to my list:
Stick to my training plan - all good so far
Not drink alcohol until the start of the Olympics - as the above
Stretch after running so I can touch my toes - still stretching, not touching toes yet
Eat properly - just about to make salmon & potato salad
Be less judgemental
That last one, tougher than running??
The title sort of gives it away really. I did 3 miles in the rain, came home & ate stir fry.
I didn't go to running club because I knew that if I waited for an hour from when I got home I would think of a million reasons not to run. So I put my kit on as soon as I got home and went. My husband ran with me. This doesn't happen very often because a.) he is much faster than me & b.) he is much faster than me. But we ran 3 miles together in the rain. And then he made the stir fry. Maybe this alone is a reason to run more often?
I can't touch my toes. I found this out when I was attempting to stretch my hamstrings after running. So I'll add this to the list of Things I Need To Do, on the list so far:
Stick to my training plan.
Not drink alcohol until the start of the Olympics.
Stretch after running so I can touch my toes.
Eat properly (I'm working on this).
I like a good list. I make them for everything. I like ticking things off. I think in life there are 2 kinds of people, those who make lists and those who don't. Are there those that like running & those that don't? Or are there just people who run & people who don't? Will I ever be someone that 'likes' running?
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