Consolidation Run 2 - Didn’t do it - Didn’t have a minutes peace for the rest of the day 🤯🥴🤯🥴

[RacingintheStreet]

So going by my run day /rest day routine I should have done this run yesterday morning - but didn’t .

I was tired, it was dark, it was cold so I just sat in bed with a cup of coffee and watched the day break .

I was ok with that though , I needed not to be a slave to routine, I needed to listen to my body, go with the flow and have a more flexible attitude 👌....be free 😂

All good 😌

Well for the rest of the day I sniped at myself ..... I should’ve done my run , I could’ve done my run etc. Etc.

Also I got introduced to a whole new family of 👹👿👺👿👹, The ‘Well maybe it was a nine week wonder gremlin’ , the ‘ maybe you just don’t have the stamina ‘ one and the ‘ well maybe there’s a limit to your capabilities and you’ve reached it ‘ one .

At teatime I popped the evening meal in the oven and took Cooper ( lazy labradoodle) a walk . It was a simply lovely Autumn evening , all woodsmoke , heading for twilight , streetlights thinking about it etc. Just perfect .....

Within 20 minutes I had Cooper round the block , home, fed , husband given a brief handover re his dinner , running gear on and out the door for my run 😂😂😂 Leaving husband and dog a bit 🙄🙄🙄

No idea where I was going on this new spontaneous evening run 🤷🏼‍♀️ , couldn’t go my coastal road , too dark and isolated , so basically I ran round the village again just widened the route , doubling back here and there etc. Wherever there was a streetlight I ran 😂😂😂

In my new found spirit of mixing it up I also ran to with Nike Run Club as recommended by Couchphoenix which I had only downloaded that afternoon.

It was a 35 minute run with the rather brilliant Coach Bennett which actually turned into my 5 km run.

I had no intention of doing 5k but I was 400/500 m off it when my time was up and as I had started off slowly for my first two km I found I was faster and quite comfortable on the last three.

I knew Coach Bennett was my kind of guy within the first five minutes as he was telling me that my pace should be slow 👌😂 we are going to get on ! Loved the app and will use again , very motivational and I listened to coach Bennett rather than ‘wonder’ about the run itself.

The last 500m felt quite tough , I thought I was huffing and puffing and probably very 🍅🍅faced . ( which I really hate and stops me enjoying running ) .

When I got home I wasn’t red in the cheeks at all and when I looked at stats my heart rate was fine . I think sometimes we are so self conscious of everything that it’s magnified , breathing is just the sound of your breathing ,, beats of your heart are just you hearing it because you are so focused on absolutely everything .

Anyway once home I felt great and today I’m feeling glad I did the run , every run you do raises confidence to do the next one ( unless it’s not a good one , but even then you want to run again and make the next one better )

I’m glad I was spontaneous with yesterday’s run , I want a running routine but I don’t want it to be routine if that makes sense ?

I want to keep motivated to keep doing this running thing 🏃🏻‍♀️😂

[CazzaW Graduate]

Another fab photo ...what a sky 😲 and it sounds as though you’ve learnt so much more too about this running lark and 5K too 🎉 what a run 🏃‍♀️💪 Coach Bennett sounds right up my street too, I’ve read lots about him on here!

Sounds as though you’ll soon establish a non-routine, routine 🤪 and how great you know you can run whenever you want now 😊

Borrow CCs baseball bat for those gremlins 👍😂

[RacingintheStreet Graduate in reply to CazzaW]

Ha ha yes , it was a late result but me 1 gremlins 0

It was nice to do the 5k but my body was very much ‘ok that’s enough’ 😂

Won’t necessarily chase it ( or more) any time soon , I think I’m going to keep going out and hopefully almost without noticing ‘get better’ .

This forum is full of others insights which are a great help too .

That’s exactly it ! A non - routine, routine 👌🙂

[acountrycabbage Graduate]

This post made me laugh, 😜 pulling a 360 on your gremlins, YES! 🙌🏼

Your thought process totally makes sense. Routine bores the hell out of me. How much chatter is there in the Nike app? I’m ready to ditch Jo when I head out tomorrow (sorry Jo) but I’m also tempted to just have tunes and that’s it.

Congrats on your 5K! 🤩

[RacingintheStreet Graduate in reply to acountrycabbage]

Hard to say maybe a bit more chatter than Jo but the one I chose was a 35 min beginners one so maybe less talk on other ones .

I found I listened to what he was saying though and as I was just running ‘wherever’ the streetlights took me , I really thought less about the actual running which was good .

I am terrible for deciding what I need is more structure , ‘ a better routine’ especially since lockdown 🙄 . So I start doing things regularly even occasionally joining things and then I do a complete u turn and feel trapped by that routine and ‘things on the calendar’ 😂😂

I hate a busy calendar , even if some of those dates are ‘nice’ things , I like my own time and my own company so I like free spaces in the calendar 👌😂😂

The calendar months during lockdown were taking it a bit far though 😂😂

[Hidden]

That's exactly what I'm doing and it's working - the spontaneous runs! If my body has energy then that's when I go. Listen to the body is my new mantra this week 😁

[RacingintheStreet Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Sounds like a plan 👌 I think that approach will keep it natural and fresh too .

[LottieMW Graduate]

Brilliant! Sounds like a lovely evening run 😄

Now I need some structure, otherwise I would *never* get off the couch, so I’ve decided to continue with my set ‘running’ days: Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. I’m also sticking to 30 minutes...I’m fully aware I’m no spring chicken 😂

I ran today without Jo, just had the timer on my phone to tell me when to start and stop running. I may give the Nike app a go...

Go us! 🙌🏼👊👏🏼🐌🐢🏃🏻‍♀️🍁🧡🍂

[RacingintheStreet Graduate]

Having just done consolidation run 3 I am fully aware that I’m no spring chicken 😂😂😂

American Pie 🎶🎶 turned up on my playlist shuffle though 👌 thought of you as I sang away 😂🏃🏻‍♀️

[JulesL69 Graduate]

Wow 🤩 you go girl ! I can imagine your hubby’s bewilderment ha ha.

Well done on your 5k achievement too 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[RacingintheStreet Graduate in reply to JulesL69]

Thanks , yes , he was fairly bemused . I think the 5k was ok but I know I pushed it . Not sure I’d rather work on getting really effortless on say 4 k. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[JulesL69 Graduate in reply to RacingintheStreet]

I’m wondering about improving my pace/ stamina first then increasing my distances? 🤷🏻‍♀️

[RacingintheStreet Graduate]

I have to say I find the whole pace / distance thing confusing . I guess if you improve your pace you’ll cover more distance ?

All I know is that for me if I focus on starting off slowly for the first 1- 1.5 km I appear to then steadily and unintentionally increase my pace over next 3 km. with each run this takes me a little further 🤷🏼‍♀️

If I do 35mins I appear now to be at 4.6k ( which is why I just went ahead and did the extra 400 metres)

If I intentionally worked on my pace just in the run I know I’d get fatigued before the end .

I’m not sure but I think it’s better to work on pace intentionally with interval work which a lot of graduates seem to go on and do. Sort of run fastfor 400m then jog for recovery then repeat etc.

I have been doing everything to slow down so I’d kill myself upping my pace , that whole running slow to be fast thing suits me well 😂

The River is in a class of its own - amazing live 👌