Now I know you're not supposed to run 2 days in a row. All of you, please listen - rest days are very important, do not run 2 days in a row! BUT I took today off and although Thursday's supposed to be a rest day what's a girl supposed to do when she has a whole day to do what she likes with? You've just got to run, haven't you? Even worse I planned my naughtiness. My runs on Monday and Wednesday were shorter than usual in preparation for a long run today. Yesterday evening I was feeling a bit achey and tired, work is a bit demanding at the moment and I was starting to feel the lack of sleep. I was really wondering if a long run today was a good idea.
But this morning I felt OK and it's not as if I'm on a programme where I HAVE to do something specific, I knew I could always go for a shorter run if I wanted to. Play it by ear. The weather here is awful (non-stop rain) with thunder storms threatened for this afternoon, so it had to be a morning run. Getting ready was a palaver because I had to keep my phone dry, yet still get to it. I ended up with it tucked under my flipbelt in a dry case.
So off I went. The aim 8k in under 1h 3m 20 s, which was what I got last time. And because I'm always trying out new things I thought I might take regular walking breaks, 1 minute walking every five minutes. My music died on me after the first song, but I mostly run without music, so that was no real problem. It started raining just as I got underway, but it was nice, light, cooling rain and I actually enjoyed it. Nobody around as I ran through the woods except the odd, older couple wrapped up against the rain, umbrellas out. A couple of dog walkers near the fields, but no runners. The walk every 5 minutes was surprisingly helpful. My first km was slow, but I'm always a slow starter and I was still on target. The next reports from runkeeper were startlingly good and they kept getting better up to km 6. The walking seemed to enable me to go a bit faster when running, because I knew a rest was coming. It was also helpful to walk before I absolutely had to. The last km was still a struggle and I was relieved when I hit 8km. I'd knocked nearly 5 mins off my previous time and managed 8 km in 58mins 30 secs. Now I know some of the graduates and speedy peeps can do 10km in an hour - but I can't (yet?). I was well pleased with my new time, especially as it hadn't been particularly grueling. So maybe I'll try this structured walking break thing a bit more often. Another thing to play around with.
I would love to get another 10k in in the near future, but will try to do that on a non-naughty day. My 8k today was definitely naughty, but very nice!
W9R2 - horrible conditions but nice result!
I've been naughty.....but I enjoyed it ;) 
CR9 - Jeffing works?
Nice park run
10k - is it just too far to run regularly?
