Thank You Run

[ktsok]

No work today, no child. My climbing partner has to go back to her office after three glorious days of picking our way up sandstone routes. I feel good. If I didn’t run today, there were absolutely no excuses!

So on went the shoes and the blindingly bright leggings, a pair of stealth sunnies for privacy (and protection against the glare of the leggings rather than the sun). Coach Bennett is my go-to accompaniment at the moment. It’s like having stabilisers, having him guiding me through the runs. So I put on the Thank You Run with the aim of running 30 minutes nonstop, in however long that needed to take.

And she was off! Nose-breathing, staying in control, sometimes listening to the Coach and other times spinning off somewhere else. I deliberately kept slow enough so even on that steep uphill track in the second kilometre, I was staying comfortable. That meant very slow indeed!

There were a few moments of having to concentrate on just the next step, because the distance to go, into the wind and slightly uphill, felt daunting - it’s such a head game, isn’t it? - but the slow pace worked its magic. I didn’t stop at all, felt reasonably comfortable and the last kilometre was my fastest by some margin and closer to my ‘old’ running pace (yes, it was more downhill but even so!).

I finished the 5k by an overgrown footpath and decided to enjoy a cool down walk rather than battle-jog through low hanging branches and knee-high grass. Then home to sit under a wisteria and enjoy the lilac breeze. Thank you.

Happy running all!

[E27M14 Graduate10]

Your description and the photo are as beautiful as your run! Oh how I wish I could run that fast and call it slow 😂😂

Welcome back though x

[ktsok in reply to E27M14]

Oops sorry E! 😆 The only person I’m comparing myself with is me! Coach Bennett calls it ‘smart’ running - not a bad idea, takes any judgement out of it!

Yes, hopefully I’m back. I mean to be. Let’s go for a virtual run sometime x

[Couchpotato2]

Sounds lovely! Well done for getting out there.

[ktsok in reply to Couchpotato2]

I have been reading your posts - all this speedy fartlekking all over the place! Is it paying dividends in terms of fitness/improved pace?

[Couchpotato2 in reply to ktsok]

Haha no. It’s nearly killing me. It’s just as it was my second run after being back and I was tired, I fancied someone telling me what to do! At one point you would have been hard pressed to find a speed difference between effort 7-8 and effort 3, all I could do was to try and keep going!

[ktsok in reply to Couchpotato2]

Hmmm. I suspect there is a smidgeon of modesty at play here! It’s very impressive - I have tried running fast and it is totally exhausting! In climbing we call it diminishing returns; every effort after you have passed a certain threshold gives less and less return! My third and fourth ‘sprints’ were barely discernible from the (far from) ‘comfortable’ pace 😂

[Couchpotato2 in reply to ktsok]

Yes that was it, the first and last were noticeably faster, second was a bit faster but the ones in between had really no speed difference. It was a battle to keep running so there was no way I could accelerate. Still it’s sort of fun. Afterwards mainly

[Katnap Graduate10]

Sounds lovely! Nice running!

[TuxCatLady]

Sounds wonderful! Makes me look forward to my run this morning even more! 😊

[ktsok in reply to TuxCatLady]

I hope it went well!

[TuxCatLady in reply to ktsok]

It did, thank you! Local woods, cool breeze, birds singing - perfect!