Monday 19 August. 2.15pm. Gusty with a rain shower.
I was a good boy yesterday and rested. In the past I have run five or six days per week, so the temptation was there. Instead of that I gave the lawns here a good mow and gave my car the first hand wash it had had for over a year.
The weather was not great here today with rain showers all day and the wind intensity growing throughout the day. There was a gap in the rain but I got delayed in kitting up, so the rain was getting ready to start again when I set out.
As it was windy, I was wearing a long sleeved thin top with another, fluorescent yellow, thin tee shirt over the top of it for visibility, with black trail shorts below.
As I've been a runner now for four years and am getting back after nearly two months away from running due to an abundance of caution following a minor injury, I'm leapfrogging though the Couch to 5K sessions, doing a Week 3 run session today.
Out the door and into the eye of the storm. No blue skies with fluffy clouds today, just a grey cover like living under a Tupperware lid.
Same route as yesterday as it's a usually quiet single track road. I turn the corner and the rain starts. I'm only a few minutes into the warm up walk. I briefly consider abandoning the run, but press on. Light summer rain during a run, once you're properly warmed up, can actually be a pleasant experience. I'm wearing a peaked cap to keep the worst of the rain off my glasses.
The first interval (of four) comes up. It's 90 seconds. I keep the pace down compared with Saturday. The road is scattered with fresh clods of muck which I pick my way through.
The walk interval is also 90 seconds and is over far too quickly.
During the second run interval I come across a couple of lads from the campsite on bikes, wearing rain wear. They go past, calling something about the weather at me. Unfortunately my podcast was louder than they were, so I missed out on some of the meaning.
I almost reach the campsite before I reach the turnaround point during the second walk interval.
A sound behind me meant I had to pause the watch and step into the verge during the third run interval to let a big DHL van past.
I was taking a photo of the road and the clods on it during the next walk interval when I spotted a large tractor coming round the next bend. It was approaching the time to start the final bit of running but there was no way I would have been able to get past the approaching tractor, so I paused the watch again and retreated back towards a gateway to let it past.
It was pulling a muck spreader. Just as well I held back! (Photo above)
The final run interval was slightly uphill and I pushed a little to the finish.
I walked back to the house. A few minutes after I was inside I looked out of the window to see near-horizontal rain. Glad I dodged that!
Stats:
Duration: 25'33" (90" + 180" + 90" + 180" = 9 minutes running)
Distance: 3.19 km (1.62 km)
Interval paces: 5'39"/km, 5'59"/km, 5'20"/km, 5'17"/km
Another step back into regular running, and there were no grumbles at all from the big toe.
I'll take another rest day tomorrow, then probably do a Week 4 run on Wednesday. That will be a step up from 9 minutes of running to 16 minutes. If that goes well, I'll be tempted to do my local parkrun on Saturday, but the weather forecast for then is currently torrential rain. 😟
Wind & rain and 4 PBS! YAY!
Twenty-five minutes of wind and rain!
B210K - W2R1 - OMG!
Wind v's Rain
