I had planned to do this run yesterday. My son called on Friday evening and wanted me to go and visit yesterday morning. “The children are asking for you”, he says. What’s a grandma to do? “We’re going to Bracknell, come with us and check it out!” So of course, I did 😊. I enjoyed looking round the town and it was good to see what it’s like as I shall soon be house hunting in the area.
So, run postponed until this morning. No gremlins, cuppa, dressed and out the door. Struggled to get a satellite signal, so synced the app and watch and tried again. Signal obtained and off I go!
For the last 2 long runs, I ran for 75 minutes, so I was looking to extend that today if it felt right to. I had 90 minutes in my head. With a slow run, I also imagined that I would be hitting 10K at that time, although it wasn’t my main aim.
I started easy, listening to one of my playlists. As the kilometres flew by, I tried to keep in heart rate zone 3, but that was proving difficult today, I’m not sure why. It was warm and humid which didn’t help. My effort was definitely more than usual, confirmed by Strava afterwards!
I was briefly tempted to repeat last Saturday’s 75 minute run, but forced myself to head back up towards the village second time around. I got to 75 minutes and calculated I was 15 minutes from ‘home’. Perfect!
I check my watch and see that if I don’t dilly dally, I’ll get the 10K just before the 90 minutes. So I pull out a few stops and fly down the hill. Yessss I was right! I can’t always work out the maths towards the end of a run, but today I did. I got to 10K and ran on for the 90 minutes. Strava robbed me of a few seconds, but I don’t mind 😬
Back for stretches and coffee and no-one is up yet! I suppose it is Sunday. I sit outside to drink my coffee and listen to the kites 😊
Written by
Jools2020
Graduate10
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My most hilarious mistake was stopping for a breather near the end of one of my runs. I was most upset to see that nothing was working on my watch, except the timer. “Why isn’t it showing my pace and why is the distance covered not moving?” I asked myself as I stood there 😂
Anyway, thanks. I’m trying to get back to previous fitness and starting to see progress. Even with my mental arithmetic! 👍😊
Thanks! Yes, I like running to time for my long run. Unfortunate my competitive instinct creeps in, especially if I see a milestone possibility like 10K. I did better keeping it slow on the 75 minute runs 😂
I am looking after Holly the dog as my neighbour is taking his family away for the weekend, yesterday I went a 6K walk with Holly, this morning I managed to get a 26 Kilometre bike ride, when I came home and after lunch I took Holly the dog another walk, so like you I have been pretty active this weekend.
Ah what a great run! I know what you mean about maths, distance, and the end of the run, it all gets a bit muddled sometimes 😃. It must have been lovely to see your grandchildren and then to wake up to no gremlins is success all round! Well done on a fab 90 min run 🏃♀️😊🏃♀️.
I know! Nothing makes sense 😂. It was wonderful to see the grandchildren. My youngest is 3 and he always opens the door to me with a chuckle and a beaming smile, jumping up and down with excitement. Nothing like it! The older two (8 and 6) have a list of things to show me and tell me about 🥰
I knew I had to run today, there simply was no time for gremlins!
Well done Jools on your 10km!! 👏🎉 I see that it is, if I am correct about a month since you last 10km. My last 10km was 18 months ago! I shall have to watch you zoom off in the distance, while I stay in the slow lane and nurse my Achilles tendon. I ran 8km yesterday morning as planned. My knee was fine, my tendon continues to need attention. Our pace was very similar with mine at 8mins 59sec/km. I spent my run playing 'avoid the fields where the paths are so narrow and the grass long so that my shoes and legs will be wet and cold'. Perhaps next week I shall be able to run the route that I had planned for yesterday. I wonder what your next running plans are. Perhaps 'see' you on Tuesday. 😊🏃🏻♀️Lovely to read of your happy time with your grandchildren. Was that Bracknell in Berkshire that you visited?
Yes, Bracknell in Berkshire. My younger son and his family live in Maidenhead.
Sorry your tendon needs attention, it’s really holding you back having to be so careful.
Yes, my last 10K was about a month ago. I don’t generally zoom anywhere 😂. Our pace is indeed much the same! I’m planning a run on Tuesday, maybe 4 or 5K and I’ll probably Jeff it.
Hi Jools, I didn't really mean that you would zoom in terms of pace, more in terms of distance. As you had been mentioning building up your fitness, I had thought that your last 10km would have ben longer ago. I could easily spend too long reading about folks running journeys, but I have lots of other pulls on my time.
My last 10K was very tough! This one was definitely easier. I see what you mean about distance. 😊 Working up to another 10 miler in the coming weeks 😀. No rush.
My average heart rate on Saturday was 132bpm and Mr Garmin put my VO2 down to 40 from 41. Ah well. 😊 It had only been at 41 for one run, which the best it has been for ages. I am glad that your recent 10km was much easier than your previous one. My longest distance was 13km which was forever ago, well it feels like that. Actually, I just looked it up and see that it was 16/1/2020. 10 miles seems a great distance to aim for, but obviously I shall have to see if I can sort my Achilles problems. Feeling that I may have been unwise, as I could have taken a much sooner appointment with a different physio, but thought that I would wait for one of the two who helped me make excellent progress after my knee injury. I have a very informative NHS Oxford Hospital leaflet which I have printed off, the link was from this forum. I am endeavouring to following the advice which gives a progression of exercises for when you can cope with the earlier exercises. The leaflet encourages relative rest, which I am interpreting to mean no sprinting and basically to continue running in ways that doesn't give too much pain. The leaflet is really long and it is about time I really studied the finer details!
The leaflet sounds helpful, but I’m not sure about your interpretation of relative rest without asking for further advice, as I would take that to mean ‘no running’. Yes, check out the finer details, but do take care.
Yes Mummy! 😂 No being serious, I have just collected the leaflet 15 A4 pages long! No wonder I have yet to take all the information on board fully. The question can I still run during my rehabilitation phase is covered. The answer says that there is no evidence that you will do yourself further harm if you return to running. You can run, providing you have little discomfort. There is more, but that's the part I am taking notice of for the moment. The level of pain when I wore the support was clearly too much and of course I am not wearing it now and I shall keep monitoring the discomfort.It is nearly a year since my knee injury and oh how I didn't want back to back problems. I took things so slowly to develop my knee. I have no idea why this tendon problem came. I would like to do intervals 30-20-10, but I didn't to look after my knee. similarly with hills, I checked with my physio first.
I shall take things slowly, may have to drop my distance down again, rather than build it up. I shall listen to my body as my physio always said and look forward to appointment on the 17th. 😊
I just love reading about your runs Jools, i’ve been at work today and come home tired so no run, the next best thing is to read others, no gremlins at the beginning (wonder where you left them) and kites at the end (how lovely) then all that inbetween with some maths thrown in for good measure, Enjoy the rest of the day and think about yesterday with the grands 😀
Thanks, Diane. My focus was 90 minutes and I didn’t really know what distance I would cover, but I thought that 10K might be on the cards! I didn’t really want to go beyond 90 minutes on this run, though. Keeping to the plan. I think running on the roads possibly makes it easier to control the runs, although I know you prefer trail running.
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