Onto my second week postgrad. Having sought advice from the best of them I ditched my cunning plan to run 5k non stop today. I’m too far off it at my pace and recognise this is a slow process for an unfit old man.
My aims today were run 30 mins non-stop; avoid the worst of the toxic 10; keep going at the end until I have returned to my starting point.
So the plan was to go off as slowly as I could without feeling totally stupid to avoid the ragged breathing I usually get from around 5 minutes until around 12 minutes.
So I went off slowly. Or so I thought. And whilst I had a little discomfort, no really ragged breathing and no gremlins telling me to stop.
My first km was the fastest I have ever done! I can only think that my pace during the ragged breathing is so slow that it wipes out my earlier speed. Lesson: slower is faster.
Rest of the run uneventful except for seeing the first friendly male runner on the road. We passed in opposite directions on opposite sides of the road, both looked over and waved. I’d have swapped him for young Paula, but it was still nice.
Total run: 3.47k in 31:22, accompanied by Kirsty Young chatting up Matt Smith of Dr Who fame. Very relaxed at the end. Totally calm breathing. Feeling fantastic.
Final thought. I had Kate Bush, “Breathing” going through my head a lot of the run. I know she can be a bit marmite but if you wonder what a song sung from the perspective of a baby in the womb is, you could do worse.
Enjoy your next run x
Week 9, run 3... Completed
Week 9 run 1 and 2 – towards victory
W2R1. 
Week 1 consolidation
