Out sharpish this morning, to find the fields well frosted but not much wind. Ideal conditions once the sun came through those clouds, and I was tempted to ditch the plan and trundle on. But I Have Been Warned by the incomparable Wendy the Chiropractor not to overdo things until her rigorous glute strengthening exercises have had some effect on my niggling arch (🤔😳), so 5K loop. I did enjoy it, too, except for the bit about wet feet from the long grass half way round. If there’s frost, surely my feet should stay dry? Oh wait, the sun came out....
And then there were stats. Mr Garmin liked me this morning. I was gasping a bit - too fast too early (🐢 fast, that is...) and a week off on Dartmoor, so I was not surprised and trundled slowly on. But the watch says a PB for 5K. Hmmm. Guess I am really not a good judge of pace as I go. And at least this time the watch recognised a bit of effort - it declared I had “improved my aerobic fitness”. That’s a first. All other runs the best I got was “maintained” and sometimes I’m pretty sure I can hear sneering in the background. 🤣
And then, oh excitement, I discovered the elusive VO2 Max, which I’ve seen mentioned on here, usually in a context of “Don’t take this too seriously as it’s not very accurate.” But how could I not believe when it said I was in the top 15% for my age group? Of course it MUST be true. 🤣🤣 I suppose there is a little matter of the age weighting being rather on my side here... Those folks who blast past me with their pony tails flying are probably at least 40 years my junior. But still, I admire an algorithm that has something for everyone as long as you search diligently enough. And it must prove that adage about slow running builds fitness. I am slow, for sure, and here I am being congratulated on my fitness, at least in context of my age group. 😄
Happy running everybody. And don’t let those stats get you down!
When you have a stubborn streak
A pinch of salt needed (and a little surprise)
A Hot Run 🥵 On A Cold Day 🥶
Run after a few days break.
