I ran 8km yesterday

[Daisyrun]

Yesterday I went out with the intention of running 7.5km, my previous furthest being 7km.

I was running on the pavements outside the perimeter of a local park which is a popular route with runners.

For about three quarters of the route it was absolutely tipping down and I got soaked but I really enjoyed myself. I did the extra half a km as I was quite far round the third lap of the park and knew I'd just have to walk further home so I carried on for a bit.

I'm still really slow but my 10km isn't until mid May, once I can do 10km, hopefully in the next month I will then work on increasing my speed as I've provisionally said I'll aim to do 10km in sub 80 minutes. As you can see it took me almost that long to do 8km.

[ju-ju- Graduate10]

Fantastic, and well done for getting out. I nearly got blown away on my run yesturday!! Have you tried the speed podcast??

[Daisyrun in reply to ju-ju-]

Not tried that one yet. I think once I'm at 10km I will focus on my speed. Although I was faster on a shorter run on Monday. I ran for 20 minutes at a pace of less than 8 mins/km.

[JoolieB1 Graduate10 in reply to Daisyrun]

Good plan, watching speed all the time is over rated and can cause injury, to run 10k will be a great achievement!! 😄

[Daisyrun in reply to JoolieB1]

I can't believe I'm hoping to be able to run 10km soon.

[misswobble Graduate10]

Cool running! It's great to a achieve your distance goals, knocking them down like domino's.

Work on getting stronger and your speed secondary to that. Be prepared to take time as it takes a while. It's about enjoying yourself too so have fun with your runs ☺

[Daisyrun in reply to misswobble]

I have just under 6 months to go until the 10km race so I've loads of time. I enjoyed yesterday's run despite the rain I had a smile on my face. Thank you for the support.

[misswobble Graduate10]

Running in the rain is cooling but you might get a hat or buff for when much colder conditions arrive. You soon get hardened to cold weather. I used to be a complete wimp but now I always seem too hot 😊

The stepping stones podcasts are brilliant

[Daisyrun in reply to misswobble]

I managed to run a fair bit last winter, it took me months to do the c25k due to illness & health issues. I will look for head gear if it gets too cold.

Are the stepping stones 3 podcasts or a different set?

[Realfoodieclub Graduate10]

Well done, great run and great time. Don't put too much pressure on yourself over time, go at your own pace, you are so much less likely to get injured if you let your body get used to distances before you even try to get the time down. Take it from someone who has a similar pace to yours when training. Enjoy the run.

[Daisyrun in reply to Realfoodieclub]

Thank you! It made my day yesterday when too faster runners going in the opposite direction waved, smiled and said hi in the pouring rain.

[JoolieB1 Graduate10]

Speed isn't the main thing is it, you did a fantastic run, great distance too, amazing. You are so close now to 10K, awesome. When u r having a good day, good idea to go a little further

[Hidden]

I've also been slowly building up, managed to run 7.67km by not really watching my lap times, listening to a full Suede album (including secret tracks meaning it came to just under an hour) and then reached home and saw the distance I'd done. Just a few more of these sorts of forgetting-yourself runs and I may reach 10k too I think it makes sense not to run too fast when you're increasing distance. The only thing I'd ask is why you start so fast? I find it's best to try and start as slow as possible then speed up later. Although you keep a great steady pace throughout from the 2nd km onwards - so maybe this is just what really works for you?

[Daisyrun]

Well done on your distance Ruth 😀

I've always started quickly and I'm not sure why. Sometimes I speed up again at the end but not on this occasion. Part of the reason the second km was a lot slower than the first was because I started running at the green dot and the top half of the 'square' is mainly uphill. Sadly it was too wet and full of leaves to go to fast on the far left of the square downhill as I didn't want to fall over.

I'm not good at judging my pace yet so I start going as fast as feels comfortable. But I always get slower.