Week 7 mixed results

[mattaitch]

Started week 7 in high spirits as I was running in St David's a place very important to me and my family.

However my first run didn't go quite to plan as I underestimated the ruggedness of the coastal path, also it was very wet and I found that I my pacing went for a Burton as I dodged muddy puddles and the rocks that are a signature feature of the path. So after 20 minutes I called it a day as I was worried that I was tiring and might twist an ankle or plummet to my death or both. I wasn't too upset though as I had run 1.5 miles alongside the most beautiful coastline in the UK.

After my rest day I tried a different approach and after plotting my route on BackCountry Navigator (excellent Android App see backcountrynavigator.com/) this time I first ran into St David's and then down to St Non's chapel on road for the first 1.3 miles before joining the coastal path for the last mile.This time I succeeded in doing my 25 minutes and was very happy, particularly as some of it was uphill (where I live in Oxfordshire it is so flat even the speed bumps have triangulation stations).

I followed the same plan for my next run, but this time decided to go further into town before turning back and joining the path. This run went really well and when the 25 minutes was up, and I was still a few hundred yards from the path back to the site I decided to try upping the pace as Laura suggests doing for the final minute* and blow me I seemed to have plenty in the tank and managed to increase my speed to a Faharesque 6.6 mph for another minute.

Unfortunately later that day my sinister knee decided that I hadn't been paying it enough attention and started playing up making going up or down gradients unpleasant. So far I have had to skip 2 run days to placate it, but I've been here before and I'm not too distraught as I know the drill and am certain that I will be up and running again soon. Also I've been amazed at how my stamina and fitness have improved when doing other activities such as kayaking and swimming, where I've noticed that it has been both physically and mentally easier to knuckle down and keep paddling/splashing.

So even though I haven't actually completed week 7 I still feel like a real runner as even my shortest run was 1.5 miles and it is only one more run to complete the week, then just 7 more to graduate and I'm already looking forward to the post-grad podcasts.

* I know you are supposed to do it before the 25 mins are up, but I was scared of not making 25 minutes and I'm far enough on the Asperger scale to not count 24 minutes and anything less than 60 seconds as WK7R2 complete