So pacing and rhythm are important, it seems. Who knew?
I was feeling so nervous about trying this run again after burning out at 18 minutes on Easter Sunday. I had job-interview level nerves. I even went out and walked my route on Easter Monday to try and figure out the pacing.
After all the rain yesterday, it was a lovely cool and clear morning and I was in my new short-sleeved running top. I set out nice and slow, a few gremlins appeared early on but didn’t hang around and by the 5-minute mark I was into quite a nice rhythm. I stuck to this, and hit the halfway point bang on where I expected to. I was still feeling nice and fresh, no breathing problems, I kept on. Shortly after, the “it’s not so easy now” song came on, which is when I really started to struggle on Sunday, and comparing how far I’d got round, I knew I’d gone off way too fast the other day. I plugged on. Just when I was thinking I might have a cheeky look at the time to see if I’d got past my burnout point, Laura came on with my five-minute warning. Felt so good in the those last five minutes. Breathing was fine, legs not too bad, and I was not overheating - the short sleeves and earliness of the hour made a real difference. Finished in style, speeding up, admittedly on a downhill slope.
I am so chuffed, as I was worried 25 minutes was beyond me, but this actually felt easier than W5R3 - no boiling jelly in human form. Also, I am officially a runner! I was super slow, though.
I’ll see how I find the next two 25-minuters and if I’m still feeling good will move on to Week 8.
I want to thank everyone who took the time to give me support and advice after my bad run. It really made a difference and I have my mojo back.