Tortoise and hare

[Yesletsgo]

I didn't run over the weekend as I felt a bit knocked out following a vaccination but by this morning I was raring to go. Last time I ran my hands felt chilly so I dug out my gloves, pulled on a short sleeve tshirt and 3/4 leggings and off I went.

When we reached the path my husband asked if I was going to take it slowly. Of course, the answer was 'yes'. He sped off ahead of me and soon was just a dot in the distance.

After plodding along for about half a km I got bored. I felt like going faster, in fact I felt like playing around with my speed....isn't there a word for that? 😂

I was off, after150m at an 8/10 ish effort (though I wasn't counting) my heart rate was quite high so I slowed back down to very easy pace. Deep breaths, allowing the HR to fall below the maximum zone, then I was off again.

Oops, muddy path, don't want to come a cropper as my husband probably wouldn't hear me yell he's so far away. No worries, there's a grassy margin that's clear and flat, I'll run there, faster, faster Another 150m at 9/10, this feels good and guess what, husband seems to be closer.

Once the HR was down again I gave it another blast of speed. This is the stretch of the route where I always used to try and run as fast as I could when I'd just graduated C25K, so I smiled and congratulated myself for still getting out here for a run.

This leasd to the turn to the sea wall, the last part of the run. Husband was taking pictures so, guess what, 400m or so at 7-8/10, it was getting easier now. The gap was closing and I caught up with him and overtook him! Admittedly he was standing still and yeah, I know, speed isn't important but the competitive spirit took over.

I slowed down briefly to take a picture. It was a beautiful sight, the river was flat calm, the clouds and the boats reflecting on the mirrorlike water. I carried on, expecting that Mr Y would be ahead of me but no. I looked back, he'd taken more pics than I expected so was a good way behind me. As I heard his footsteps approach I speeded up again, hearing 'You overtook me!'. By now I wasn't looking at my pace or my heart rate, I was near the end of the run so I just went for it.

We more or less finished together and this was one of the faster times I've done for this particular 3k route. It wasn't supposed to be a fast run, it just felt right this morning.

Ah, that's the word, fartlek 😂

PS the gloves stayed on the whole run, no cold hands but no overheating either (9C today)

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

What fun, my next run is tomorrow and I've been thinking about intervals, or fartleks, now I'm inspired

[Yesletsgo Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

Normally I have an NRC coach jollying me along, it's much more fun choosing your own moment to speed up

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to Yesletsgo]

Yes I think so too

[RiceAndPeas]

That sounds like a really fun session. Just reading about it made me smile. The photo is beautiful too.

[Yesletsgo Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to RiceAndPeas]

Thanks, just great to run how I felt like

[CBDB Graduate10]

brilliant run report! It sounded like you both had fun!

[Yesletsgo Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

Thanks, it was one of those runs that makes you smile all day

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate]

A beautiful run... and a lovely burst of exuberant speed! A super photograph too!

[Yesletsgo Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

Thanks, it was a great start to the day