Well it has been 4 runs since the wondrous Grad run where I pushed extra hard to get through the 5km barrier in 30 minutes. I was so determined that I did not work out that the settings I already had on my treadmill would have got me there anyway, so for the last minute I increased my pace to 11 km/hr and pushed though to a triumphant end.
Two days later, my next run was more tricky. I did not have the big goal that I had before, so it was hard. As Laura always says, most of this is in the mind and my mind was not in the "right place". After only a short period of time (5 mins) I wanted to give up. This was clearly mental....!
I pushed on through though and completed the 5km without the 11km/hr flourish of the grad run and no euphoria. Simply: job done, but nothing more. The other runs after this were better and much easier. My max HR. and time spent in the training zones both showed that my performance and ability were improving.
So I am a runner now and am running 5km or more every other day. 20km in my grad run week, yes me! I ran 20km in a week! I tell you, I have dropped that factoid into as many conversations as humanly possible.
So last night, I was away from home again and was in the right frame of mind. However, my colleague, staying at the same hotel, wanted to eat early. I thought to postpone the run until today, but I am travelling to a different part of Germany and did not want the inconvenience of my shoes and running gear.
I had planned every day and what I would need and when.
So after dinner, yes I know it's not good, at 21:38 I braved the extreme cold and was out running again. The town was small and not so interesting, but had rows of quite nice houses in the one street with lights on it that I chose. I read the post about overdoing it from greenlegs and about the different styles of training. I still have to get a handle on this, but thought I would take it easy.
Just about 20 mins into the run, I found a stretch of soft path to run on. It was lush under foot and I wished it would go on forever. It did not and was replaced by paving slabs and cobbles. Oh well, at least I had a nice surface for a while! The run was completed in about 40 mins. This was including time to lace my trainers again and 2 stops to get my iPhone to tell me were my hotel was.
I had a great run, although it was not that fast and not that scenic, I was the one out there doing something and where my colleague slumbered I burnt off dinner and then some and reaffirmed my right to call my self a runner.
Elegant, eh?
One run away from Graduation!
After week 9
1st Post Graduation Run
After graduation
