Only 2 runs this week, but a new PB 😊

[Jools2020]

I can’t remember what my excuse was for not running on Tuesday! Maybe it was drizzling and I just didn’t feel like it, but I was out of bed with the 6am lark on Thursday. I had decided on a 3K run and I would Jeff it 😊. Now I was planning to try different intervals this week, but laziness took over and I repeated the 40:30 intervals that worked quite well last week. It went very well and I’m really getting the hang of gliding slowly to a walk and speeding up again. It feels much smoother. Stats 3.30km, average pace 7:21 in 24:18. I was pleased with that effort.

I was really looking forward to a long run on Saturday and wanted to do a 10K. I had a difficult and upsetting day on Friday, the result being that I didn’t get any sleep at all on Friday night as everything went round and round in my head, so I felt pretty ill in the morning when I should be getting up to run. I made a cuppa and had a couple of chocolate biscuits for some reason! Perhaps I needed a sugar hit 😊. After an hour I felt a bit better and decided to go out for a Very Slow 5K Run, which I did. As expected, my heart rate zoomed straight into Zone 4, but I just carried on with my slow pace and it did come down to Zone 3 eventually. I found that the stress just ebbed away and I started to feel a lot better. Oh, I do love my slow runs. As I started the 5th kilometre I even managed to keep running with a shorter stride on the uphill part. Now there’s about 500 - 600m left to go. I felt like pulling out the stops, I’ve no idea where I got the energy from! I now know what ‘running on fumes’ feels like. But suddenly it was there and it felt great. I glanced at my watch. Pace of 5:45 - oh right, I wonder if I can keep than going to the end of the kilometre! I keep going and look again at my watch. 5:30 - whhaaat! And I’m still going. I did slow slightly and ended the run at a pace of 5:40. I walk round to ‘my’ steps and sit down to get my breath back. I see that I have a new PB for 400m, which doesn’t surprise me! I was definitely jet propelled! I think about how it felt to be running at 5:30 and decide I liked it very much 😊. I go home and make coffee, completely forgetting about the lack of sleep. Stats: 5:01 km, average pace 8:48, in 44:12 minutes. PB for 400m of 2:15 Whoopeee! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️😊

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Well you completely turned that awful night around didn’t you? and i’m sure the run helped quiet your mind. Sometimes we just need to push it and push it you did! Hope you catch up on sleep tonight

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

Thank you, Sola. I hope so, too! I’m definitely calmer this evening. 😊

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to Jools2020]

Good to hear, I mentally pack up my worries in a bag and hang them in the hall if i’ve got things going round in my head, doesn’t always work. Running helps hugely

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

Good idea! I’ll do that now.

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to Jools2020]

As long as you promise to pick them up in the morning (even if you forget) they usually stay there, I have work ones hanging on the gate too lol,

[RunBrianRun Graduate10]

Well done 👏 👏👏

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to RunBrianRun]

Thank you, Brian 😊👍

[LottieMW Ambassador]

Gosh! It’s so much better to start slow and end with a spectacular finish! Well done you! 🙌🏼

I hope this helped to kick all those problems into touch…a good run certainly helps to clear the brain 🥰

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to LottieMW]

Thanks, Lottie! The run certainly helped. The problems are in a a bag hanging in the hall 😊 they’re going to stay there all night!

[LottieMW Ambassador]

…and the best place for them! 😉

[Frizzbomb67 Graduate10]

Well done on that PB! That’s pretty speedy! I love long slow runs too. I always have one at the end of my working week and it just seems to blow the stress of the week away, at least for a while. Hope that’s the same for you 🤗 The choccy biscuits sound good too 🍪🍪

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Frizzbomb67]

Thanks! Running definitely helps with anxiety and stress. I don’t usually eat chocolate biscuits before a run! This time it seemed to help because I was so tired.

[Frizzbomb67 Graduate10 in reply to Jools2020]

I often eat biscuits 🍪 before a run. Completely guilt free 😉

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Frizzbomb67]

Haha! I don’t usually eat anything before runs up to 10K, so it was unusual for me. On a longer run, I might have a banana.

[Birdlady64 Graduate10]

Well done you for battling and beating those demons 😈 Any run is valuable and,as coach Bennett would say, if you can't run the run you intended to run, run the run that you can run. Which you did in spades! Just awesome! 👏👏👏

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Birdlady64]

I like that quote and it was exactly what I did! Thanks, Diane 👍😊

[Week7 Graduate10]

Hope sleep is better for you tonight.Think we all know that middle of the night thought recycling feeling! Good to see that chocolate biscuits and a run worked their magic !

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Week7]

I slept much better last night and what a glorious day it is today. Half wish I had postponed my run to this morning.

[Week7 Graduate10 in reply to Jools2020]

Ah but your body needed it yesterday!

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Week7]

That’s true!

[over61andstilltrying Graduate10]

So pleased to read this 😊 Congratulations on your enjoyable PB. 🎉 🏃🏻‍♀️🏎 I have used the idea of a firmly closed suitcase to pack those things in. No opening unexpectedly since there are clasps and buckles on the suit case so it's your choice when it's time to open it.

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to over61andstilltrying]

Thanks, I need to leave that suitcase it a bit longer as I’ll be adding to it this week! 😬

[Hidden]

A run can often help to quiet en relax the mind. I have sometimes found myself needing a run too. If you had told me thzt a year ago, I'd have booked you a one way ticket to the nut-house 😹

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

I know! I knew that running would help, there were no gremlins as such, I just felt ill with exhaustion. Chocolate biscuits with tea to the rescue!

[Runninggirl59 60minGraduate]

Sounds like the running worked its magic, I always feel better after a run no matter short or long. Here's to a better week

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Runninggirl59]

Thank you, I’ll cope with it a day at a time, stressful week ahead.

[Runninggirl59 60minGraduate in reply to Jools2020]

Good luck 🤞🤞

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Runninggirl59]

Thank you 😬

[Fionamags Graduate10]

Great stuff Jools. Glad the run cleared your head. Xx

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Fionamags]

Thanks, Fionamags 😊👍

[GailXrunning]

Well, you made something amazing out of a very inauspicious start. Sounds like you really needed and benefitted from your run to channel your troubles into new energies. Super PB to boot! Well done, J. 👌🙌

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to GailXrunning]

Thank you 🙏 it all worked out really well and I felt much better. 👍

[Instructor57 Graduate10]

Well done Jools👍A good 5k especially as you did not feel like it .

You said at the end you don't know where the energy was from ?

Probably the two chocolate biscuits 😁

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

Haha, yes! Thanks Ian. Maybe next time I should eat the whole packet 🤣

[nowster Graduate10]

Pace of 5'30"/km? Who were you calling speedy the other week? 🤣

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

🤣 but I can’t sustain it! I was pretty pleased, though. I managed to sustain it for longer than I thought I could.

[nowster Graduate10 in reply to Jools2020]

It seems to get easier with practice. Nine months ago most of my runs were slower than 6'30"min/km.

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

I’ll have to speed up like that on a regular basis!

[Peter44 Graduate10]

Sorry to hear about your upsetting day, i know how a run can really help with things like that, hope everythings ok over there, life can be shit at times, but keep going! 🤗

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to Peter44]

Thanks, Peter. Running helps so much. Yes, keeping going, mostly OK 😊👍