The 7.5k two days ago left me stiff and sore all over. I was a bit worried I might have overdone it and sabotaged my Magic 10 before it had even kicked off. The boyfriend is over this weekend with his dodgy calves and the two of us have been walking up hills like arthritic pensioners.
Lots of booze and a game of Cards Against Humanity with friends last night, together with a lie in this morning revived me somewhat and I thought the 2.5k might be a goer after all. There is no way the fella can run at the moment but he volunteered to be coach-on-a-bike and stopwatch holder for the 30-20-10 interval training plan recommended by ju-ju.
The instructions were to warm up with a slow jog for mile (I went for a km); then jog for 30 seconds; run at training pace for 20 seconds; then sprint for 10 seconds; repeat this 1 minute 30-20-10 cycle four more times; and then there is more, but given I was only to do 2.5km I thought I’d go straight to the cool down with a slow jog for a km.
I really like running fast. It feels good! The tough bit is running fast then getting your breathing back under control whilst still running. A 10 second sprint at my level of fitness results in a short collapse in lung function. A couple of deep breaths and I’m ready to go again, but recovery whilst jogging? Non. Coach kept telling me to slow down, and by the end of the 5 minute interval cycle it did feel a bit more manageable, but I realised I needed to remind myself what my ‘training pace’ is.
Runners World have a calculator for that and I think this translates as running the 30-20-10 at: 6’45; 6’07; 5’40? Looking at Garmin, I was doing the 30-20-10 at: 6’30; 5’30; sub 5’00. No wonder it was a bit of a struggle!
I was cheered to see that I had run my fastest km, but the photos the fella took were sobering. I supervised the deleting of several of the worst - he agreed that if those had been my profile shot, we never would have got going. No he didn’t agree actually, but I know it to be true.
God. I look middle-aged! I mean, I know I am middle-aged but but but... And in quite a few of the photos, I look like I wouldn’t be eliminated in an Olympic walking race. In the others, my heel is pelting the ground - no dainty gazelle-like toe-strike here. I have selected the best photo here, but it is not representative of the majority. Thank God I can’t see myself running, is all I can say. Do any of you run on treadmills with mirrors around?!
We came back and did some wobbly stretching with Adriene, which was nice. 10k, here we come!