Hello lovely people!
It’s a grey, damp and blustery day out there; perfect! It felt chilly so I donned an extra layer and planned for a pit stop to strip down once I had warmed up properly. I thought I would do a circuit I completed in two stages a few weeks back, a 7.5k with a few little hills and one socking big 1k hill (between 4 and 5k 🥵). This time I wouldn’t stop at my mums for a coffee, but I thought I’d allow myself a 30 second walk if it got too much; and I’d aim for a 7 minute pace...
With sleeves pulled down firmly over the Garmin to prevent peeping, I set off, keeping my mouth closed and determinedly nose breathing. I slowed right down on the first little hill and although the toxic 10 kept me company for a little while, felt pretty comfortable. When I got uncomfortably warm somewhere before 3k, I did a quick shimmy out of a layer and set off again.
It’s a long hill... it’s a really long hill. I kept going and kept going, but was flagging. I thought I’d push through... then not, then would... thoughts about longest distance run swirled about, together with thoughts of not pushing it too much... I took a peek at the watch and I was at 4.97k, so pushed through the final 30m and allowed myself a 30 second walk to the top of the hill.
Off again, feeling fresh now the ground was falling away under my feet. I was on the home straight now and had the scent of a hot bath and porridge in my nostrils. Then I hit another hill. I kept going and made it to the top, considered carrying on, then saw the watch turn to 6k. It felt like a sign. I walked another 30 seconds and then jogged very slowly for home. The last 400m or so were downhill, thank heaven, and the legs felt good again.
I put a post up about race prediction times yesterday and was thinking about that a little today. I don’t have the mental toughness, experience, technique and so on to run anywhere near the times the race predictor indicates I could - but I have the tools to. That thought helped me tough it out just a little longer on the hills today.
I had thought it would take me about 49 minutes (7k x 7m). In fact, with the walking and undressing sections, it took just under 48, and I ran for 45’30”. Thats my longest time running, over my longest distance, at an average pace of 6’30”, with a socking big hill, which is pretty much bang on my fastest 5k pace, with an extra 2k thrown in.
Improvement is happening here, friends!!!
Happy running everyone!
🏃♀️
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
