wk8 r1....running 'till the cows come home

[Misstrolly]

Ok, so it was a step up from the previous week 7 25 minutes runs which I managed just fine. I decided to retrace my steps from the last run and choose a rather undulating open grassland which was quite tough last time and I wanted the challenge again, with the extra challenge of the 3 minutes on top.

It all started as usual, quite laboured for the first 5-8 minutes while by body got used to it. When I had ventured out, it was quite chilly and overcast which was just perfect for a sun & heat-phobic runner like me. However, the pesky sun decided to come out half way through the run and i felt myself get warmer and warmer (I had a long sleeve hooded jersey top on over a sports bra which is perfect for cold runs for me). The sunshine also coincided with quite a lengthy gradual incline on the grass which was quite heavy going, on more than one occasion the bad couch potato demon started piping up how hard it was and maybe you should stop and walk it but I tried to banish it and focus on getting to the next marker I had set. Aprt from the inclines, I find running on grass so much easier on the joints and more interesting, dodging tree roots, cow pats and the like. The very large field I was running in houses a few cows which (hopefully) are very harmless and just stare at me like I am a madwoman, then run away from me if I get too close.

After nearly 23 minutes when Laura said I had 5 minutes to go, I was feeling the effects of quite a few inclines and undulations underfoot. However, I had really got into my stride by then and decided to go for it and tried to get on to a level path for the last push.

I like to use mapmyrun to measure my distances and always start and finish it after the warm up and the beginning of cool down.

I did 3.94km in 28 minutes which is OK considering I wasn't on the flat. On Wk8r2 I am going to do it all on tarmac and on the flat to see the difference. I really want to be doing 5k in 30 minutes as soon as I can as I really want to be able to finish my 10k race in july in an hour(or so)

[ChrisMcB Graduate]

Hey, sounds like you're well on track to do the 10k within the hour! I'd be interested to hear how the tarmac run compares? I love running on grass but it's often not worth it - mud!