Today was a scheduled running day and the plan was a long run. I've been pretty good since graduation and stuck to 3 runs a week of minimum half an hour, and preferably 5 k. But my times have been getting worse and last week I was pretty tired. This woke the gremlins up with a vengeance - "See, we told you you can't do it" they gloated "you're burning out and exhausting yourself" a particularly ugly one hissed in my ear. "You've had to walk during the last THREE runs" another one shrieked with delight "we TOLD you". Well I ran non stop on my Thursday run just to shut that gremlin up. But the tired bit is valid. So this time I decided to dig out my heart rate monitor and run within my "prescribed" range. When I started losing weight my GP offered a test to determine my best fat-burning range. It was utterly demoralizing as basically I was so unfit I could only walk slower than old ladies (sorry any old ladies reading this - I don't mean anyone on this forum, you're all superfit!). 6 months later I was allowed to go up to 135 bpm and I can jog at that, so I used that as a basis. I'm probably even fitter now and if I kept around that level I wouldn't do myself any harm.
The run was dedicated to Oldfloss for her inspirational posts and anyone else on the IC! It was a gorgeous day and I was far too warm, but I need my jacket pockets for my phone and keys. Will have to find a solution to that problem, because a jacket is superfluous at the moment. My last run around the bendy trees was now too short for what I intended, but there are all sorts of extra paths and routes I can take up there so I headed off across the fields up towards the woods that lead to the little town of Schleissheim north of Munich. Instead of heading right to the bendy trees I went left between the 2 strawberry fields and then ran alongside the railway, parallel to the woods. At the crossroads it was off into the woods. The path was rather boring, just a straight route - it seemed to go on for ages. I prefer bends and a bit more variety. Lots of cyclists, dog walkers and the odd runner. Older people sitting on benches enjoying the sun. Nobody looked pityingly at me and my pulse was still OK. Just. I told myself once I'd gone out of range 3x I would walk a bit. This happened at about the 5 k mark, but I kept going because I was feeling fine. Heading back now, I'd done a big loop and was now back on the route I took last week, past the allotments, back among the bendy trees and the same way back across the fields. I stopped to walk once and brought my pulse down, but after that I didn't care because my time was so awful and I just wanted to get home without making it even worse!
I ran 8 k and it took me over an hour to do it. I enjoyed the first 4 k immensely, trotting along in the sun, feeling good, breathing easy, legs strong. The last 1.5 k were a bit of a struggle and probably unnecessary! But my pulse didn't shoot off the scale which was the main thing and the point of the run. And 8 k is a long way!
Get better soon all you people with lurgies and injuries!
No running... And some running 
Saturdays run on Sunday 
Chubby running buddy slowed me down!
Is it a premature end to my running dream?
I've completed wk 9 r1 whoop ! 
