Quick run report from this morning. As part of my consolidation post ZR C25k (the second time around), I’m still going through the NRC Starter Plan, taking a few runs at a time. Today I got out there at 7 am-ish before it got too hot and managed to complete the…
NRC’s Week 1 leftover Short 5 min run,
NRC’s Week 2 leftover Short 7 min run and
NRC’s Week 3 Next Speed Run of 25 min.
I like this way of ticking off the runs on this plan; it works for my sense of needing to complete a plan. (And boy, do I love seeing those completion ticks ✅🥰).
An additional perk is that I normally don’t have the opportunity to do these little 5-minute or 7-minute runs, so adding them to a normal length is just perfect!
So I did the “5-minute run” as a warmup, and the “7-minute run” got me to the top of my local hill, which I wanted to avoid for the following “Next Speed Run” anyway.
I loved the chatter by Coach Bennett about how every 5-min run is still a run and how it still makes you a better runner than no run. A little goes a long way! It was great to hear, even though I didn’t stop with the 7-min run….
… because … I was ready to hit the start button of the “Next Speed Run” by the time I was on top of that hill and had the gently downward sloping trail path in front of me, helping me focus on my speed intervals.
These were quite challenging:
Run Details:
5:00 Warm-up
1:00 5K pace
2:00 10K pace
1:00 5K pace
0:45 Mile pace
0:45 Mile pace
2:00 10K pace
1:00 5K pace
0:45 Mile pace
0:30 Best pace
0:15 Best pace
My bandwidth of different speeds of my ever-so-slow-joggling pace is so narrow that I sometimes cannot tell the difference between a 5K or 10k pace. Or a mile pace.
So I was looking forward to this one with a bit of trepidation, aware that even lovely Coach Bennett might not think of me, the Queen of Slow when he was devising this one.
But of course, I should’ve trusted in him. The first few pace changes were tricky; I have to admit. But by the end of the session, I had discovered the sweet spots, yes, very close to each other, but discernible. I could pinpoint my 5k pace and my 10k pace. And yes, both being slower than my 1-mile pace!
Voila! The magic of a triple-Bennett!
Happy speeding, all you speedsters out there running!
(P.s. pic shows someone cut the grass on my running trail. It must be love! 🥰)