I wasn't having the greatest of starts. I only get an hour to get home from work, change, do a warm up, do the run, do some after stretches, change again and go to the school to pick up my youngest who is seven. But I was a little late getting out of work and then some road works delayed my getting home too.
I was a little unsure about this twenty minutes run as well. My thighs have been aching since my last run on Tuesday. Wednesday I went swimming so they could rest a bit but I could still get some exercise.
The day had also been quite frosty and the cold was putting me off on top of everything else! Oh and yet another pair of my headphones was broken! I don't know why my household goes through them so quick! But the ones I had to use were taped up so one side didn't lay flat on my ear but nevermind.... I only did a mini warm up and off I went!
My usual route has a small hill in the middle which is tough on the up but quite nice on the down! But for this run I wanted level ground so I went to a place where there is a track between two electric power stations. It's wooded on either side and quite nice but to do the 20 minutes I would have to go up and down four times rather than a straight line!
Well of course I did it! My brain was being quite negative in the beginning (telling me it's ok not to fail and I might fail) but by half way through it was shouting encouragement lol. I am an Aries on the cusp of Taurus for my starsign and the Taurus side of me makes me more home loving than the outdoor Aries and more tame but I was channeling my inner Aries to power me on haha!
As I was running about four work vehicles in a row passed me by from the power station! (Very rare as usually the track is empty of people and vehicles other than the odd jogger)....
I tried very hard to not think about how I must look to them or the fact they might laugh at me! Just eyes ahead and focus on my music!
Then there was another work vehicle of some sort. I don't know what it was doing... There were two guys in it and although it was mostly stationery it rolled very slowly forward a few times. Well .... Because of my route I had to pass them THREE times! I was very grateful my music meant IF they said anything or whistled or anything I couldn't hear. And I very deliberately didn't look at them
But I was also proud that I was running (well.. jogging). And as it was the 20 mins with no walking I was sure it must look impressive that I was still going each time I passed them! And I must confess I speeder up my pace so as to look 'more cool' lol... Even though at one point I was uncertain if I would have enough stamina to see me through because of using the extra energy to speed up!
Oh and of course by half way through I had warmed up considerably and was actually quite glad the weather was frosty! I am now wondering how difficult running in summer will be in comparison? But that's another bridge for another day!!!
When the run was up and you have the five minute cool down walk home whoa my legs felt really weird and jelly like! I almost wanted to run again just to feel normal. But this run was great but definitely the limit of my stamina. Usually I run in the five minutes cool down as I do stretches and cool down at home anyways but after that 20 mins I needed that five mins at a walk!!
Am looking forward to week 6 ... Am wondering how it will feel going back to splits between walks and runs? I think my thighs need the recovery though even though I would love to go out for a 20 mins run everyday if I could!!!
So hot in my Cool Towel!! My fastest run!! How????🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🐌🐌🐌🐌
W5R3 DONE!!!!!!
W5R3 4 seasons in one run!!
W5R3 done and dusted!
W5R3
