NRC 10k app plan week 4: “80’s” run

[MissUnderstanding]

It was only afterwards that I realised I should have had an 80’s themed playlist for this. Rene LaVice’s drum and bass show was perfectly appropriate for a speed run but still. A missed opportunity!

This was a tough run for me. The idea is a 5 min warm up jog, followed by 80 second long intervals at 10k, 5k, 5k, mile pace repeated once for a total of 8 intervals. 80 seconds break in between. It sounded hard and it was, but hard is good right?

Today, I decided to ditch my lovely country lane “race track” for an old runway which isn’t used any more. Flat concrete but not exactly picturesque! It was flipping cold and I kept my gloves on for most of the run. That’s almost unheard of. I was glad of my long sleeves. The five minute warm up wasn’t really long enough. I wish I’d extended it but I was a bit short on time. Coach Chelsea told me to stretch and I did a little dynamic workout to warm up some more. Time for the first interval.

My overarching feeling about this run is 80 second intervals are horrible! They’re just the wrong length for me. That probably meant I was getting my effort wrong but I really found it hard to sustain for the whole time. I’m used to shorter or longer ones but these felt awkward. Even after eight of them, I couldn’t get used to it. 80 second recovery was brilliant though. I actually felt ready to start each interval. What a treat!

My garmin loved me though. I’ve never had a +10 on my performance condition before so it seemed to think I was doing better than I felt. It was really hard work to keep going. I think I just wasn’t properly warmed up because I finally felt good for the last three intervals. Looking at my stats, I’m usually much better at having clearly defined differences between my paces. 10k pace ones were slowest. My 5k intervals were all the same +/-2 seconds which I was very pleased about! My mile pace intervals but ended up slower than the 5k ones-a sign I was definitely going off too fast and not able to sustain it.

I added a gentle jog back to the leisure centre to make it in time for my yoga class-that was a brilliant post run stretch and cool down. I’m now rewarding myself with a super posh coffee.

I don’t think I particularly loved this run but it felt like it was good for me! There are other interval runs I’ve liked better so I doubt I’d go back to this one, although it might be nice to try again in a few months to see some progress. Bring on week 5 now!

 Yesletsgo no glitches with the interval length, although I swear some of them felt longer!!

Anyone else tried this yet? Happy running!🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate10]

Well done for ticking another run off the list! Especially for doing a yoga class straight after, that's dedication

I sort of know what you mean about this run, although I quite enjoyed it. I quite like intervals and the 80/80/80 etc-ness of it appealed to me. The first half though - the pace chart on the NRC app shows one big blob for intervals 2-4! That wasn't how it felt at all. I was walking during the intervals so not that fast. The Garmin heart rate chart is a lot clearer and shows the long 1500 pace interval much clearer. I agree that 80 seconds can feel a long time when you're working hard.

The second set of intervals all seemed to slip nicely into place though. Being through the toxic 10 and looking forward to breakfast works wonders for me 😂

I've still got two runs to go this 'week', not sure when I'll fit them in as I'm setting off home on Wednesday, lots more long days in the car but who knows, have shoes will run🏃‍♀️💨

Looking forward to reading about you doing Week 5!!

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Yesletsgo]

Thank you! It’s a nice gentle yoga class with loads of stretching. It works really well as a cool down from a workout.

It’s so nice to share experiences of the runs. I’m on a rest day today with a swim planned. Hope your journey back is traffic free. Some of my favourite runs have been post long drive!! Good luck!