So it’s been a while, or at least it feels like it. Two weeks ago I missed a run, which should have been W6R3, and I didn’t run again until now.
I had my reasons! My partner was already in labour, although our boy really took his time getting here. Anyway, bringing a tiny human into the world and incorporating him into an already increasingly busy life has proven to be pretty time (and energy) consuming so there just hasn’t been time (or energy) for running.
What changed? Well, we’re very gradually settling into it, although we have a very long way to go and all we want to do all the time is sleep, but to be honest, the main reason is I just missed it.
So I jumped back in tonight but not completely in the deep end. I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle week 6 right now, especially since I’d been struggling with it previously. I thought it would be best to work back up to it but I also didn’t want to restart completely so I looked back at some previous runs to the ones that made me feel good, I looked at the breakdowns and settled on week 4, it looked nice and manageable.
It made sense to me, I hadn’t run for two weeks, I was behind by two weeks so it made sense to go back two weeks. It was meant to be W6R3 so I went for W4R3 and based on how it went and how I feel now, I think I made the right decision.
It was a good run and took just the right amount of effort. I had to work for it and it wasn’t all easy but it was manageable and I never struggled.
I started to feel it pretty early on during the first 3 minute run. It wasn’t a struggle as such but I definitely had to regain some muscle memory and I probably started off slightly faster than I should’ve.
But I got through it alright, it mostly came pretty naturally and I settled into it alright but the walk after was very welcome.
The 5 minute run took a bit more out of me, but again, I settled into it pretty quickly and it felt good. In fact the whole thing was a real morale booster, it’s nice to know I can still do this without losing too much progress.
Nothing particularly notable happened, although something heavy in my hoody pocket knocked against a parked car as I ran by so I had to do a little sprint away in case there were witnesses. I’m sure it was fine, I’d check if I thought I did any actual damage.
Oh, I saw a cat! It was perched comfortably on the path watching life pass by. It looked at me with an expression that said, “Why the hell are you running, foolish human? There are no predators pursuing you and you’re not chasing food.” I wanted to stop to stroke it because cats are a weakness but that would ruin the run.
Wait, there is one thing worth mentioning. After the run finished I decided to keep going a bit because I felt like I could and I wanted to see how much more I had in me. It turns out I had 2 more minutes in me, bringing the last run up to 7 minutes and the whole thing up to a total of 18 minutes. Now that’s encouraging.
So on we go to a repeat of week 5. I’m looking forward to it, assuming I can fit it in. I really hope I can because, while this is far from the most important thing going on right now, it still means a lot to me and I really want to see it through to the end and beyond.
But I’m in no hurry, I mainly want to do what feels good so I’m considering repeating week 5 a few times, really get comfortable with it, at least until my everyday life is a bit more accommodating.
So question: do we have to stick strictly to the 3 runs a week structure or could we do one run every two days?
As in, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday one week, then Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday the next? It means every two weeks there would be 7 runs instead of 6. I’m pretty eager to get as much in as I can. Would that be advisable?
However I do it, it’s good to be back. Bring on week 5...
Again...
I’m back! 👋
Back to work struggles.
W4R3, and what headphones?
Doing so well - got to wk7 run2 - but now I’m ill & not sure where to start back when I’m better
I’m back!!
