I’ve had this run going round my head since I ran it this morning. I’ve been trying to come up a sensible run report but so much of my headspace was taken up with “just hang on!!!!” that I’m not quite sure what to say about it! Let’s see what comes out…
I’m back on the NRC HM plan (waves at the others doing this too 👋!!) and this morning I had an hour long window to fit in a run before Pilates. That meant exploring the area around the leisure centre and starting at 9.30am. Not ideal because I’ve never been beyond the car park on foot and it was already pretty hot. Still, some friends has briefed me on how to find an abandoned air field and I was in an adventurous mood. From the options available, “Tempo with Emily Infield” looked the best.
Five minutes walk took me out of the multi storey (I don’t think I’ve ever started a run from one before-an usual first!) and past the leisure centre. After a bit of a diversion past some bus stops and a load of industrial bins, I found the path to the airfield. I don’t know how I hadn’t realised that it would be flat, but that made a nice change from my recent hilly runs. Not an inch of shade though. I started the guided run and gently pootled through the seven minute running warm up. It was already hot and the feelings of apprehension were building.
I often find I’m not quite warmed up after the official warm ups of the speed runs. Today was no exception but I didn’t really have time to do my usual extension. Starting the tempo section still in the toxic ten wasn’t ideal but needs must! After some quick dynamic stretches in front of someone’s garden, it was time to start.
Coach B instructed me to aim for a 5 or 6/10 effort, somewhere between 10k and half marathon pace so I gave it my best. Time to get comfortable with being comfortable. Finding “uncomfortable” wasn’t too hard. Still warming up, nothing felt like it was flowing and since I’d now run out of runway, I needed to look for where to go next. Spotting a small lane off to the side, I adjusted my flight path.
Usually, I’m pretty good at distracting myself but today was hard! It was hot. It felt tough. The time check reminders didn’t feel helpful. When the announcement that I only had nineteen minutes to go came, I think I went through the first few of the five stages of grief…denial that that could be right, anger that Coach B was asking me to do such a ridiculous run and bargaining that I’d just keep going until I’d run twenty minutes in total. That would only be thirteen minutes of tempo and thought was enough to keep me going!
A few minutes later, I finally felt like I had hit my stride. It wasn’t a stride that I liked but I was confident I could keep holding it until my revised target came up. I decided to focus on staying at that pace until the run ended and seeing how consistent I could get my stats to be. Usually I speed up as I warm up but I knew the challenge today would be not to slow down.
Almost as if he was reading my mind, Coach B popped up to tell me not to back off in the third quarter of the run. I’d felt my focus drifting away from the run. Usually that’s the enjoyable part of going for a run for me-enjoying the scenery but at this point I was running alongside a dual carriageway with industrial units and fly tipping so sitting with my own thoughts about the run was probably good practice. It had got really tough-it was so hot and I was getting mentally tired. Again, I had a little tantrum with myself about the horribleness of this run and questioning all my life choices. That perked me up an bit and I’d decided that I could make it to twenty minutes of tempo and then stop.
Luckily, my improvised route looped back to airfield and along another path that I hadn’t seen before. That was shaded and much needed respite from the sun. Twenty minutes came up and the last five seemed achievable. Why not just go for it? It seemed daft not to try and then there were only three minutes, then two minutes, then one minute and it was all done. Phew. That was one of the toughest runs I’ve done for a while. I’d forgotten about the relentlessness of tempo runs and I was so proud of myself for getting to the end. Looking at my stats, the period where I was trying to run at the same pace was ultra consistent with only a ten second range between the slowest and fastest km. Amazingly, despite not knowing where I was for most of the run, I finished thirty seconds from my car so I could grab my water bottle and enjoy the cool down walk with a drink. I walked part of my run route and spotted some lovely posts alongside the path (pictured). It really was a lovely view when I was ready to appreciate it!
Much as I hated it at the time, looking back, it was quite fun! Sort of.
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MissUnderstanding
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Good run for you today MissUnderstanding although you say that you hated at the time but it was fun, that's a nice photo of of a post which seems to say love or something like that, anyway you should be very proud of yourself on completing that run in warm conditions. ✅🏃♂️👍
Thanks Al! It’s such a funny, mixed up feeling battling not to stop but as soon as you do, you realise you really did have fun! The words on the post are “A lovely view”. There were a few others too. I must go back and investigate to find out what they all say!
Oh my gosh...phew. .this sounds to have been hard but satisfying? I feel exhausted just reading it..You did really, really well; I'm not sure I would have handled it..
You did it...and that says do much about your strength and determination.
Your walk sounds much calmer and what a wonderful sculpture/post..
Absolutely! Hard but so satisfying to make it through to the end. Sometimes you need a reminder that you’ve got inner strength you can call on when it gets tough. Today was definitely one of those days! Hooray for Coach B and hooray for all the lovely support on here too! ❤️
That sounded brutal MU, so special well done for sticking with it - or even going out at all! 👏👏👏👏
I’m back on the HU plan for the who knows how many’th time! I do love it. Good luck with yours and I hope the runs don’t end up being so tough as that one sounded. Hope Pilates was good too - more kudos! 💪
Thank you! I felt like a hero at the end. I was still bright red when I went to Pilates and there was a little bit of admiration for running first. That was nice!
Lovely to find another HM plan follower-there are so many of us! It’s such a good one. I love that even if there are runs I’ve done before, they still feel different. I think this one must have been one I skipped last time because I didn’t remember it at all. Perhaps the twenty five minutes of continuous effortful running scared me off!
Pilates was great. The instructor is fantastic. Really clear with lots of options. It was a lot of core with legs in tabletop which was seriously tough. We were all clutching our stomachs afterwards! Most definitely a rest day today! ❤️
sounds like there was all sorts going on her?!?!? What a satisfying run…when it feels hard but you just keep pushing through and get to the end…and realise how much you did actually enjoy it…sort of..
So much going on!! You are absolutely right-I think that’s why it took me so long to get my head around it! Tricky weather, totally unfamiliar place, a type of run I don’t often do, needing to be back at the start on time, background worry about if my knee will play up… Lots to think about! A really great challenge-I’m actually looking forward to the next tempo run now. When I do them, it’s usually because I’ve started an easy run and felt like I’d like to go faster but I think it was good to be pushed outside my comfort zone and have a go when not everything was ideal for it. A workout for the mental toughness as well as the legs!! Thanks so much for your support! ❤️
That sounds a bit longer one a lot of my runs, flipping hard work for most of it but looking Ng back quite enjoyable. Well don for getting through it, and lovely post
Its one of the NRC HM 11 weeks to go runs-I didn’t do all the 12 weeks to go but I’ve realised I actually need to stay roughly on track to be ready on the day of the Great North Run! I prefer having a bit of buffer so I can make a week longer but I’ll have to skip some to be ready.
It was tough but with a day’s rest, really good! Thanks so much for the support ❤️❤️
I was thinking about you yesterday and wondering how you were doing. Well done -it sounds like you're doing fine despite not enjoying this run so much!
Thank you! Forest of Dean day seems like such a long time ago now! I’ve been really lucky and found a great physio. There have been a few ups and downs but everything seems to be back on track now. The longer runs are building super slowly because that seems to be the biggest risk for aggravating it again but I’m (mostly!!) really enjoying the shorter, faster runs. It’s really nice to feel like things are going in the right direction now. Phew!
How’s your marathon training going? Hope it’s going well!
I have only ever done three runs of each week of the plan. I can play the the 15 minute recovery run on my post flat white walk home from my long run, so I know what is coming next week, and I either drop the other recovery run or one of the speed runs depending on how I feel. Your run today seems to me to have been a classic learning how to feel comfortable with feeling uncomfortable! I can remember on a recent run thinking that I felt terrible and I could just stop, but then I started to analyse that feeling….I wasn’t in pain, I was moving along ok ..there was no reason to stop….so I didn’t! Another valuable lesson learned 🙂
Same! I very occasionally did four runs but most weeks I did three. That worked well and was realistic with life. Plus, at the moment my physio has got me doing loads of strength and that’s the priority over running to make sure I can keep running!
You are so right about the “I can’t keep running” thought being one you can analyse your way out of. I’ve been reading a brilliant book called “Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness” by Steve Magness. One of my favourite quotes which is now in my running journal is this: “Real toughness is experiencing discomfort or distress, leaning in, paying attention, and creating space to take thoughtful action. It’s maintaining a clear head to be able to make the appropriate decision. Toughness is navigating discomfort to make the best decision you can.” We aren’t less tough because we’re finding things hard-we are tough because we can respond to those inner voices calmly rather than overreacting. I’d really recommend it. There’s a Runner’s World podcast interview with him that’s worth a listen too-he talks about the ideas in the book and that’s what made me buy it!
I think those runs are the runs to be most proud of!
It’s easy to run when it feels fun, but the slogs with heat, exhaustion, frustration and annoying motorways, when you keep going on those, you’ve really achieved something special!
You are so right! Thank you! Hard runs really shows how tough you are. I’ve often talked about some absolutely hideous ten mile runs that were awful for nearly two hours each but looking back, they’re some of my best runs. If nothing else, they make you appreciate the good days! ❤️
Great stuff MissUnderstanding ! I hate tempo runs. The only time I've ever done them was trail marathon training and they made me thoroughly miserable before, during and after. They did, however, teach me to put up with feeling dreadful for longer than I thought I could.
Thank you! I totally understand your feelings on tempo runs-it’s so good that running is so adaptable that all of us can figure out what we like and run in a way that works for us.
One unexpected upside is super chilled runs like the one I’ve done this evening feel extra wonderful after such a hard slog. I finally found a cool time of day to run and hit 10k for the first time since the injury happened. Had set out to do 5k but just kept going. Felt absolutely wonderful!
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Gentle run turned into a 10k run
Non-fartlek day, as it turns out.
Benchmark Run, wrong turn 😩
Making a plan - no u-turns allowed ✋🏼🛑!
Unexpected turn of events 
