Post-graduation experiment - surprise, surprise!

[Dragonflies]

I do like a plan! Sometimes they pay off and sometimes not, and sometimes the result takes you by surprise.

Plan: to do a gentle run followed by cool down walk to measure out 5k exactly on the gentler track, so that I can finish off my consolidation runs with a 5k before I go back home. In order to do this I wanted to check if doing a U-turn at a specific point on the track would make this 3 km circular track a 5 km run.

In my excitement, I forgot to set the timer on my phone and it wasn’t until 3k that I realised this. Before the run I had figured out how to set MapMyRun to prompts at every 0.5 km. Although it did tell me how long I had been running for and my average pace, I really did not pay attention as I was so busy making mental notes in the landscape for markers.

The going was good, and at 4.5 km I was already over 30 minutes and decided to run the full distance.

Result: I felt really good all the way through from around the 2k mark and did not need to slow down towards the end, who would have guessed!?? Certainly not me only 3-4 weeks ago when most runs were a real slog. I feel like one 💪 lady 🏃‍♀️😆

[Fabulous450 Graduate]

And you certainly are one 💪🏻 Lady! Go you Dragonflies! Fantastic achievement. Well done! 😁🤩❤️

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to Fabulous450]

Thank you 🙏

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Great plan... great run... great result! Nice time in your first 5k, congratulations!

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

That was a VERY big surprise too, especially with all my hills, I have decided to embrace them all 😆

[UnfitNoMore Graduate in reply to Dragonflies]

That’s it... I’m gonna face some hills! Been putting it off and I’m surrounded by them.

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

It really does pay off, and very quickly too! Remember, even my “running-on-the-spot-speed” uphill has made a difference 😆

[UnfitNoMore Graduate in reply to Dragonflies]

We did a couple of little ones last night, but tomorrow I run alone so I’m thinking it’s up a real hill time... I have a roughly 3 mile all downhill run I was thinking of doing for knee strengthening, I guess I can go the other way for muscle development! May not have the stamina for all of it, but then it’s just a shorter walk home 😂

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Good plan! The U-turn I did today increased the elevation gain a bit, strengthening indeed

[Oldlady57]

Well run you!! Looks like your doing really well & your pace & stamina are improving too. Looks like in the not too distant future you will break the 30min 5k mark. Keep on running, your doing fab👏👏👏

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to Oldlady57]

Thank you, I think I will get quite close when I get back home 🏃‍♀️

[DaveMu Graduate]

I'm still covering 4k in 30 minutes on the treadmill. I've done 5k on a couple of occassions but its been brutal. Planning to slowly up the pace from 8kph to 10 over the couple of months to get me to the 5k

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to DaveMu]

You might want to try variable inclines if there is such a setting

[DaveMu Graduate in reply to Dragonflies]

It is a feature on the mill. Keep the same pace but increase the incline ? Both should get me there i suppose.

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to DaveMu]

I wouldn’t advocate keeping the same pace, rather to keep “running” even if you need to slow down, but then I am not a treadmill runner so I am not sure. Trial and error is one tactic.

[Jogunlikely Graduate]

Great run 👍 and the scenery looks fabulous x

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to Jogunlikely]

Thank you, it really is gorgeous. I’m going to miss it x

[Deals1 Graduate]

Good run. Like the pics

[uncle_wiggy Graduate]

Your running more and more as graceful as your name with each run now dragonflies, wonderful job! 👏👏👏👏

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to uncle_wiggy]

Thank you uncle wiggy, not sure about graceful but I do hold my head up high when I run now. It’s part of my strategy to feel the part 😆

[Hidden]

What an amazing difference from that first motionsslinga run Dragonflies!

You said on that first visit “…distance and pace became totally irrelevant”

Wow, two runs later... on that same track it looks like they were bang on! What a great run …with those hills too!

…I told you that you’ll come back like Wonder Woman, maybe you’re even starting to feel a little bit like her now?!

Dead chuffed for you, well done 😘🤗

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Thank you TS, I am dead chuffed. I have truly embraced motionsslinga 1, and lo and behold, I intend to pay a visit to no. 2 sometime next week.

I didn’t believe you then, but I am beginning to feel a bit like a Wonder Woman 💪, another week here and who knows! 🤸‍♀️

[Hidden]

Wow Dragonflies!!! Awesome run! It sounds amazing! Love the plan... definitely a masterplan! 🤩🙌👌

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Just didn’t plan for it to happen just yet 🤣

[BaddieThePirate Graduate]

Tee hee hee, fantastic run. Sounds like you took yourself by surprise, and what a lovely surprise!

[Dragonflies Graduate in reply to BaddieThePirate]

It was indeed 😁