What a simple GHASTLY day! Wet, dull, chilly, miserable - PERFECT for a saunter outside with my Brooks, lycra leggings and long sleeved top (bright yellow). Having almost recovered from DIY shenanigans where my hands took a beating with a 5lb lump hammer, got cut to shreds on shards of stone and my head took a lot of scratching as I pondered "Is that straight?", I set off on the first run of the week.
runningnearbeirut and ionaddatruffe on here were talking recently about PACE. RNB posted a very useful link
runnersworld.co.uk/general/...
which is full of stats and ideas about how fast one should go so I thought I would try and do what Juicyju has been telling me for AGES;
SLOW DOWN (you wazzuck)!
I've been finding it hard to go slow. Dunno why, just do. My usual pace these days is around 5'30 per K and that is comfortable'ish for me. I mean that I don't get TOO knackered pushing that pace, but today was gonna be an aim for almost 7 min per K!! "That's just a fast walk" I told myself. "Oh shurrup you ludicrous poppinjay" I admonished myself. "Just jog slowwwwwly and see what happens". I decided to do what I'd told myself.
First of all, it was a terrific feeling reining back my speed and deciding to be mega comfortable in my jogging. My breathing was relaxed and legs felt good. I'd done my pre run stretches so my hips, glutes and side leg muscles thingy's were awake and finely tuned, ready for 5K.
I ran along the river on my usual route to Richmond, up over the bridge and down the high street, then a left back down t'river. ALong the river to Old Deer Park and across the park. This was K3 and I was holding back my speed whenever I felt like I was going to fast. Despite my best efforts to "crawl" along, I was still moving briskly - or at least that's what it felt. It would be good to check Endomondo later and see just what I was doing. I could have made a bloomin' speech at a political rally, let alone kept up a conversation, my breathing was that steady and relaxed! I reached the A316 busy main road and took the long slow climb to Twickenham bridge which months before had almost killed my legs and made me want to scream for my Mum in a two year old bawling sort of a way - "Muuuuuummmm!!! Waaaaaaa!!!" (like that). Not today dear reader! For today I glided up the hill effortlessly, like one of those incredibly expensive patio doors that closes gently with just the push of a little finger! Down the other side and then homeward bound.
"This is good this "easy pace" malarkey" I thought. Perhaps there IS something in this after all. I knew I wouldn't be hitting any good times today but what the heck, I was moving along quite nicely and if this had been a 10K, I would have to say that THIS is the way I would run it, because mentally knowing you've got some juice left in the tank is a beautiful thang, especially if there's another 5K to go. But not today folks, no sirrreeee! I was going to stop at "Fave Lamppost #2" and check my app.at 5K. There it was.....just a few metres to go.....aaaand STOP!
Stats as follows ;
K1 6'15
K2 6'05
K3 5'57
K4 5'56
K5 6'02.
The first K was my slowest, yet I still did two of them under 6 mins. I wonder if I could slow down even more? Or should I stay at this comfortable pace rate? OR indeed, is this all a mental game? I'd convinced myself to go slow - ergo, be RELAXED and not force anything. Hmmm.....questions, questions....
The main thing is that I think I know how to approach my first official 10K run in 2 weeks time. I'll knock out a 10K this week sometime to practice and see what happens. So in the meantime, let me wish you all a fantastic BH Monday!
Tally Ho!
Dan.
I have dusted off the trumpet............
Slow jog today
Week 9 run 1, turned in to 5K best ever run!!!
After 18K and 2 days rest? A cheeky PB over 5K... 
