A gorgeous, sunny morning, perfect for a run. A quick check of the weather app showed that it was 3-4 degrees with a slight breeze, so shorts and tee shirt should do nicely!
I listened to a podcast this morning from the “You’re dead to me” series of history podcasts on BBC Sounds. I didn’t like it much; maybe I’ll try another. This one was about the Babylonians. I think I need a more in depth history podcast than this series.
I set off on my warm up walk and start to run. I want to run for 10K this morning, but my heart rate zooms up into Zone, 4 - I’ve no idea why. This did mean that my effort was high, even if I slowed down. Maybe it was the air quality, which was ‘fair’ on this run, but I was conscious of working quite hard.
But I refuse to be thwarted from my 10K goal! 😊 There’s no-one about at the start of my run and the air is fresh and cool on my skin. I decide on my established 5K route and I’d do it again with a slight variation.
I do seem to struggle on this route with the second kilometre, but I ignore it and plod on! This route is all round the houses. For the 4th km I’m running alongside the common and start to see people. I notice a cyclist and realise I’ve seen him before. He must be cycling round the houses! The third time I see him we acknowledge each other. The fourth time I laugh and so does he.
The fifth km is mostly downhill towards ‘home’, but I don’t run quite that far, turning left to do part of the route again. I’ll save running past my Dad’s house until the end of the run!
5K done and I move into Part 2! Although my pace is quite slow, I’m struggling a bit because my heart rate is up. It does come down a little in the second half of the run. Maybe I shouldn’t have had second helpings of that takeaway curry last night! And - unusually for me, I had some red wine with it. Literally 2 mouthfuls! (I don’t usually drink). The podcast finishes and I decide to listen to Santana for the rest of the run! 🎶 🎵 😊 I’m too busy thinking about the music now to be concerned about my heart rate!
I plod on, repeating part of the same course. I start the last km at the top of the road. It’s uphill for 2-300 metres then downhill all the way! I fly downhill and round the corner, cross the road and turn left. I mistime it slightly and have to turn round at the end of the street. 10K done and a PB for that last km of 6:19. I think that’s a second faster than before, but a PB is a PB so I’ll take that thank you very much! This is my first 10K run for almost 2 months and I feel really pleased! 😊 ‘Home’ to stretches and coffee! ☕️ 😊
Written by
Jools2020
Graduate10
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Congratulations on completing your first 10K for two months, well done, this Wednesday I intend to run my first 10K this year, so that could be interesting. 🏃🏾😊
A rest for me today. I may try three laps of a local reservoir (3.6km each) to do a 10km tomorrow morning, before the downpours that are expected in the afternoon. If I don't feel up to it I'll just do one lap. It's pretty flat, being a lake shore, so we'll see how my legs like that. It'll be my first run not starting from my front door, so should be practice for parkrun (next month) and the 10km event (4 July).
I think that this is the only downhill I’ve got as a PB 😊. Good that you’re resting today. It makes sense to see how it’s going tomorrow before you commit to a 10K.
Great stuff Jools! As ever, loved reading your post. This morning I'm really feeling the lack of running for the last month... especially since Marj has managed her first 10k! When I got to the bit in your post about 'Santana' I burst out laughing - I recently asked the radiographer running my latest MRI if we could switch from the Santana track accompaniment - as the bass line perfectly matched the pulsing of the machine: bit much!😳🤣All best, hope to be back soon!
Thank you, I am actually very relieved! I thought I had lost so much fitness that I might not be able to run longer distances any more. I had to work quite hard (I’ve never been fast anyway, though). This run has given me sone confidence back. 😊
I’ve been trying to do the same thing 😂. I can see an animal head, with wiggly horns. No legs yet, maybe I should look at the map again and modify my route!
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week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
