Yay - best run ever - and a 7K!

[yatesco]

So I was getting a bit consumed and lost in the data analysis side of things and was challenged to 'just go and run and enjoy it'. I also wanted to make it count so I forced myself (as much as possible) to stay in the Aerobic zone according to the HRM.

I also ditched the field and went to Bradgate Park (which is absolutely stunning!).

Eventful things/observations:

- Bradgate park is stunningly beautiful

- hills are a pig

- deer are really quite sweet

- stags are terrifying

- hills, they really are a pig

- getting lost just after your iPhone dies is not great

- realising your watch has a 'back to start' is great]

- other runners shouldn't be so quiet and stealthy, particularly when dressed in black

After about 5K I ran into a herd of deer including the stags and realised I had startled them....except the stags weren't looking startled, they were more 'you looking at me? YOU looking at ME!?' at which point I thought nature/nurture...nature's going to win and went a different way.

Unfortunately this meant I also got completely lost. I did speed up a bit - it was getting dark and I kept seeing pairs of eyes looking at me, waiting to mow me down with huge antlers.

It was a few minutes after this when I heard pounding feet, looked over my shoulder, saw a big black thing coming which my brain couldn't identify (it really was getting dark) and gasped like a little girl! It turned out to be another runner who stopped and asked me if I was OK :-).

Anyway, 7K (actually 7.2K), with a higher cadence and a lower heart rate, and the joy of running has returned ;-). I even had a little bit left in the tank and sprinted the last few meters. Wish I hadn't as two people were sitting at the exit which I hadn't seen and it probably looked like I was trying to be all 'yeah, that's how fast I run!'. Oh well - a great experience all round.

connect.garmin.com/modern/a...

NOTE: I spent quite a lot of time hovering on the boundary of aerobic and threshold so 'time in zones' indicates a lot of time spent in threshold, it was, but only a couple of beats more.

[heavyhorse Graduate]

well done sounds like a great run! I think a change of scenery and or route always leads to a good run!

[Rhedwr Graduate]

What a fabulous experience. And 7.2k - go you!! 🏃🏻😊

[PippiRuns]

Yatesco, you are making some pretty amazing progress. 7k and your feeling that this was your best run ever! Great! Poor pigs, though...🐖🐖🐖

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Simply great! Well done.

What a lovely run.... I was definitely there with you... it sounds a super place to run.

You reached the magic 7K too, ( well magic for me)..! I only made that a couple of weeks or so, ago, and I graduated at Christmas...Mind, my runs are not quite as planned as some of yours... and just happen!

It sounds an exciting run, as well as impressive.. The longer distances are enjoyable, and I am now finding, I am tending to run more at about 7K...it seems to be my new 5K. I run them slowly and find I can really enjoy everything around me, as you clearly did on this run

I am not sure about the stags.... very scary... especially in this season... and the runner in black.... did it make you jump?

The hills, well, you just have to learn to love them... no other way

Looking forward to seeing how you go from here... you are clearly destined for great things distance wise. I shall poddle along and watch the fun.( Not into the whole tech' bit, but am learning a lot from your posts!!!

I think you were right to speed up at the end... one of my mantras through most of my life....If you've got it....flaunt it!

[Neverrunmum Graduate]

I love my Garmin but I try not to look at it until I am well on the home stretch, if I clock wAtch my enjoyment of the run is diminished and some mornings it's such a struggle but if I don't look it's a whole different experience. Sunday mornings seem to be my good run times - I always run further (possibly because I choose a nice flattish route, I too hate hills!) and I seem to always get home feeling fab with a whole chill out day ahead of me. I love Sundays.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate in reply to Neverrunmum]

Are you me???? I love Sunday Run day... and I love flattish... cannot find much, but hey ho! I don't clock watch my Garmin either, mainly because I usually stumble if I do...

[pinklady2499 Graduate]

Great stuff. I love Bradgate Park!

[Sarah-A Graduate]

Ahh, Braggy Park is lovely, lots of pretty scenery to admire. Kudos if you ran all the way up to Old John!

Glad that you have found your love for running again!

[yatesco Graduate in reply to Sarah-A]

To be honest, I think _walking_ up to Old John would have made my HRM explode let alone running :-). I did run up say, 100 meters and then come down, run on the flat, then run up another hill for 100 meters and then come down - you can _clearly_ see in my HR where I started the climb - its angle is even more than the hill :-).

[yatesco Graduate]

Thanks all - if you have never been to Bradgate Park then it is worth a trip to Leicester just for that.

Here are some awful photos (sorry - iPhone is broken and most were taken 'on the hoof'): dropbox.com/sh/14w7hjho0d0g...

[jt24 Graduate]

That's a better post

Just what you needed to do- concentrate on the 'fun' side of running.

Well done

[Hidden]

It is all to easy to get caught up in the stats race and lose what we originally started to run for, nice to occasionally just go out and run for the sheer hell of it , good run yatesco

[Irishprincess Graduate]

Haha! Funny post. And well done on the 7K. Fab. 👏