It feels like it’s been ages since I posted one of these. The weather blew me off course! I got a bit spooked by a door flying out of the back of a truck and nearly hitting me while I was driving home a few days ago that I decided not to chance any trees coming down on me. Late afternoon today, the wind seemed to have dropped and it wasn’t raining. Time for a run.
I was in such a grump about some work stuff that I thought it would be good for me. I hardly ever come back from a run still in a bad mood. Today was a rare exception! None of this was related to the run commentary. Coach B stayed with me the whole time which was good-he’s abandoned me during a few runs recently. It just felt like a total slog. I think I got my eating wrong because five minutes in I was absolutely starving and I couldn’t shake it.
So anyway, what was the run about? It was advertised as a 25 minute easy run. Coach B spilt it up into five minute chunks, each with a diffent focus. That worked really nicely. He talked about the run as being a meeting between the run and the runner. That’s basically thinking about how you’re feeling and what you’re supposed to be doing. If the run’s a relaxed one, you need to meet it where it is and run easy. No arguing!
Despite all that great advice, my run felt like an argument with myself all the way round. Too fast. Too slow. Push harder. Stop pushing. Why are you even thinking about pace? Too hot. Now too cold. Usually I settle into a rhythm but it wouldn’t come today. Ten minutes in, you’re asked to think about how you want to end the run and to take steps to get to that point. I was aiming for “calm” but everything I did seemed to annoy me.
I think this would have been a really good run if I’d been in a better mood. Ah well! I still ran for twenty five minutes and I’ve got a very satisfying tick. Once I’d been in the shower and eaten something, I found my good mood!
If you’ve done this run, how did you find it?
NRC 10k Plan Week 1 Run 2: Intervals with Cory
