feeling stronger

[limberlou]

Edit:- Ive just looked it up and mum was right!! They ARE called Dunnocks !!

After reading all these wonderful Marathon reports and seeing my friend Louise with hers, I feel a bit of a fake celebrating my 5k today but I will anyway. I have struggled a lot lately since the June bout of Covid (flipping determined that I’ve had MY share of it and now and a couple of other peoples’ too!!) but this morning was the second good run in a row. In fact I was enjoying it so much I didn’t notice when I went over the 5k , until I glanced down at my watch to see how far I had left to run!! 😁. First time that’s happened in well over a year!!

I’m still struggling with sleeping all night so I wasn’t expecting much and had decided I’d LIKE to run a 5k today but if I wasn’t up to it I’d just go with what I COULD do. It’s cooler in the mornings now which I love. I almost can’t wait for the frosts … except for the slippiness. My son has been staying with me this weekend, as he came down for his brothers birthday yesterday, and he went off to the local gym and I decided to run.

I was going to try the NRC guided runs for the HM training plan but it starts straight into the run and I wanted to walk first. I have walked and then tried to start a podcast before and couldn’t so I went with old faithful…DJ Kinelis and Run to the Beat. I always find I just get “ in the zone” with these tracks and off I went

My daughter was supposed to be out running too this morning. She is wfh today and runs in her break or lunch break so I looked out for her but no sign if her. I had the Trail to myself this morning all except for one lady with a couple of small white dogs, that she carefully hauled out of my way on the way out and on the way back again. She was going in the opposite way to me and we exchanged good mornings and smiles. And I saw no one else at all. So peaceful !! It wasn’t especially early either so just lucky I guess.

I did take a couple of 60 sec walk breaks but felt so much stronger today. There is so much bird life on our River at the moment so I was watching them as I ran past too. Apparently we have the 3rd highest concentration of wild birds in the county along there. I only recognise some of them but there are egrets, Canada geese, plover, swans, sandpipers, ducks and of course all the damned seagulls and many many more. And then you get the magpies, blackbirds, thrushes and robins darting back and forth across the trail in front of you. And in certain areas there will be a thicket full of tiny little birds, all chattering away frantically, that my mum used to call Dunnocks but I’m not sure if that is their real name. I think this is what distracted me and all of a sudden I had reached 5k and slowed to a nice walk home, with a few stretches along the way.

I am so hoping this means I will be back enjoying my running again. I didnt like struggling at all. I will never be fast but I used to just be desperate to go and run and lately I have not felt the same. Hopefully if I can get back to sleeping properly again that will help too. I usually look forward to running when it’s cooler so 🤞

And well done to all those fabulous London marathoners 👏👏👏

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

That sounds really good, and it’s a circle, if you run you can sleep and if you sleep you can run.

Covid is areally nasty virus and even if mild can leave lethargy and inability to exercise so well done you for running

[limberlou Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

yup- had it 3 times now so don’t want it again!! And I’m fully jabbed too!!

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to limberlou]

That’s really cr*p fingers crossed for the future and Covid finally moving on and leaving you alone

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10]

That’s a massive achievement. It doesn’t matter what distance anyone else is running. You did something brilliant and you should be super proud of yourself.

It’s annoying that the NRC runs don’t have a warm up walk on. Their speed runs generally only have five minutes of warm up running top and I need at least ten. It’s definitely one of the downsides of their guided runs. Hopefully you can find something else or get the tech to play. It took me a bit of time to get it working as I wanted.

I’m a huge lover of birds and would have loved seeing those dunnocks (and all the others). Sounds like a great run and I hope it’s the start of a good season for you. Covid is so miserable and can really take it out of you so crossing fingers hog avoid it this winter.

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

My solution to the lack of warm up walks on NRC? Start my Garmin watch tracking as I leave home, walk for 5 minutes or 0.5 km or whatever and only then start my NRC run. This way I track my total exercise on the watch but the app tells me specifically about the run.

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Yesletsgo]

I do similar. I know a ring of places that are five minutes from my house so will walk to one of those and start all the tech there. My Fitbit isn’t clever enough to give me times running vs walking so it ruins my average run pace calculation to have a walk included. I’m thinking of asking for a garmin fit Christmas!

If I want bbc sounds to play I have to have it open, start nrc then quickly switch back to bbc sounds and press play again or it gives me music from my phone instead. A lot of buttons get pressed very quickly!

[Dendev75 Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

I have to do all this too switching between Strava, bbc sounds and then my timer too if I want a timed run 😂 nightmare. The garmin is on my Xmas list 👍🏻

[limberlou Graduate10 in reply to Yesletsgo]

I’m not so worried about tracking my walk just worried the app won’t start if I press it after 5 mins when I am away from Wi-Fi

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to limberlou]

In my experience that’s absolutely fine. You can download the guided runs before you go. The way I do that is at home, click on the run I want, then select guided run, then select download. You don’t have to do the run there and then. It will be there until you choose to remove it.

[limberlou Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

thanks

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10]

So, so glad that you got out for that run and that it went so well. You have had a really rough time.

Your running location sounds beautiful and if anything can give you back that joy in your running. then that will surely help x

[limberlou Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

it is beautiful. I consider myself so lucky to live in this part of the country.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10 in reply to limberlou]

It all helps...i feel the same about our little part of the world and when at the coast! X

[Brixcos]

I love a dunnock! You're so lucky having such a smorgasbord of birds nearby. We are hoping to get out onto the Essex estuary soon to see what's about.

[Scruff55 60minGraduate]

what a fabulous run for you today. That river trail sounds wonderful. Just take each run as it comes and I’m sure you’ll be back running how you used to

[limberlou Graduate10 in reply to Scruff55]

🤞I do hope so.

[Hedgehogs123 Graduate10]

Hey dont compare yourself to what distances / races others do, what matters is what you do, your progress and how you feel. I spend my life looking at others and comparing but it's not healthy and certainly not helpful to you.

You've done really well. Covid takes ages to get over. It affected my running for 3 months if not longer. I just couldn't get my breathing right and tired so quickly. So dont be so hard on yourself, youll get there im sure.😄🏃‍♀️

[limberlou Graduate10 in reply to Hedgehogs123]

thanks I’m trying not to stress about it