I have noticed that we have a lot of runners coming across the graduation line, as well as a lot just starting out on the program ... congratulations to all of you, for finishing, and for starting ...
The consolidation of the C25K program continues, have been doing shorter runs in the gym, but with a faster pace, and saving myself for the Park Run ...
Managed to get an official time this week, so it was actually flagged as my first Park Run. Happy with my time, considering ...
The run started out well enough, based on last weeks mistake of getting bogged down with Dog Walkers and Pram Pushers, no axe to grind with any of those groups, I was just in the wrong place ... I moved myself up the field and when the 'gun' went off I was reasonably placed to get a decent enough start, still a lot of people breaking into a walk after 200m-300m so maybe I should be further up the field ... but, all was going well, apart from I forgot my headphones, I didn't have a lot to remember, but still managed to leave them at home.
1km down, 6:24 pace, with a dodgy start, happy enough with that ....and still feeling good, well not really, I still suffer with toxic 10 ... more on that later ...
The pack was thinning out now, and I was well into my rhythm, 2km, 6:18 for that split, quite a bit of 'down hill' so the going was a bit easier ...
As we levelled out at the bottom of the course (out side my place of work!!!) I got my 3km split time ... 6:21, things were looking good, maintaining a good average time of 6:21/km ...
Kilometre four was much the same, except this a long uphill drag, so hearing my 4km time was a bit of a shock, must have put a huge effort in to maintain my time ... 4 km, and a split time of 6:17, I was liking the sound of that ....
The last kilometre, the finish line was literally in sight, though I still had a bit more up hill to do, and a lap of the boating lake to complete, I had to pull off of the hard surface to pass fellow runner and my left foot slipped a little on the soft ground, didn't think much of it, at first, but soon had to pull up, thought it was cramp, so a bit of stretching and massaging and I was away again, a bit sore, but I was moving again .... I'm at the boating lake, legs feel OK, so I've upped the pace a little .... final corner and the finish line is 200m ... the euphoria of reaching the finish keeps my going at my elevated pace ... click ... finished ....
I remembered my bar-code this time, so actually got a registered time this week ... officially 33:09, though my running watch flagged my time as 32:32 from start line to finish line ...
The left calf feels like a muscle injury, could hardly walk yesterday, much better today, but I'm going to have to be kind to it this week.
Back to the Toxic Ten ... here comes the science part ... this is the first ten minutes of any demanding exercise where the body is low on oxygen, it sounds pretty drastic, but its just the process everyone’s body goes through at the start of aerobic exercise. As you start exercising, your muscles need more oxygen, but your body isn’t ready for that straight away. So you develop what’s called an oxygen debt, as you use up more than your aerobic systems can supply.
Once the oxygen in your blood becomes particularly low, your brain takes action to remedy this, making your breathing more heavy and your heart pump stronger.
It takes a little while to pay off your oxygen debt and clear any accumulated lactic acid, and so this is why the first 10 minutes can be so hard.
So, my point here is, is there any value in doing a really vigorous warm up routine that will help with the toxic ten, and not take so much time to repay the oxygen debt ...
Wishing you all well on your running adventures ....
Park Run emasculation
First park run done!!
First Park Run - Pap17 
Park run - I'm hooked!!!
Park run disaster! :(
