HM training week4 day2

Today's was 10mins warmup in zones 1&2, 15mins in zone 2, 15mins in zone 4, 5mins cool down in zones 1&2.

I woke at 4.30 after a restless night and decided to get up early and run before it got too hot. There was a storm in the night with spectacular lightning and torrential rain. so it was wet and very humid this morning. So dogs out first (one refused to crap and the other refused to wee, so i was walking them round and round getting more and more irritated ... grrr ... ) and then I took myself out.

I'd forgotten how beautiful it can be early on a summer's morning. The world was washed clean, sparkling with rain on every leaf, the sun floated like a coin in a sky of cloth of gold, and a giant thistle in someone's garden pulsed with saturated purple against its ghostly pale leaves. Further into the run, that same sun was speared by the church spire, reminding me of these words from the The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: "Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night, Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light." Beyond the church, the river was alight with gold too, reflections of sun and cloud melting and pooling. Hanging baskets of flowers on the railings glowed with soft colour and gave out perfume. All very exotic.

Well, enough of the poetic stuff. The run was tough. All that damp from last nights rain meant it was like wading through a sauna. I was really out of breath just running very slowly in zone 2 (I was channelling Quentin Crisp, as Gary advised, muttering hello sailor, ooh ducky as i minced along). Going from a lumbering zone 2 up into zone 4 was a shock to the system and I was panting, forcing myself to keep going, wishing at every step that I could slow down. It got easier after a while though. But I'm totally incapable of getting my heart rate back down into zones 1&2 again for the cool down five minutes. I guess that will come as I get fitter.

But tis done. Tomorrow is a rest day, so swimming in the morning. I must be improving: I no longer feel knackered and ready for that rest day. Heyho ...

[MikeJones68 Half Marathon]

Another lovely write up, young Flick. You should be an author x

[Hidden in reply to MikeJones68]

Haha yes indeed. Though the height of my publishing fame is two decades behind me ☹️ X

[SlowLoris]

Very disciplined Flick, well done. I'm a bit at the mercy of whatever my running club is doing so my HM plan is out the window a bit. Plus I have an enforced break coming up so my HM in September will be aiming just to complete at a steady pace.

One thing I was told yesterday evening was don't cheat yourself on your recovery, even if that means slowing to a walk.

[Hidden in reply to SlowLoris]

I feel the same - I will be happy to just get round. I have no intention of pushing myself on the day. By recovery, do you mean the cool down section when I have so much trouble getting my hr down again? Strangely, I increased my pace but with an easy frame of mind, and my hr came down lower than it was when I was trying to go slowly. I think the very slow running is a bit of a strain all round

[SlowLoris in reply to Hidden]

I think the wrist based HRM is slow to come down anyway. I just try to get my breathing back to normal. HR should follow. Interesting what you say though, perhaps it needs more focus on relaxing rather than just going slower. I shall try that.

[Hidden in reply to SlowLoris]

Yes, it is slower to come down. My watch has running power from the wrist, and that’s supposed to be a much more accurate way to train, but Polar don’t have any programs with it yet

[Clairecandothis Marathon Half Marathon]

Beautiful poetic write up of a tough run! Xx

[Hidden in reply to Clairecandothis]

Thank you ❤️ An enjoyable run despite being tough. I’m loving every minute of this training plan. I live sleep and breathe running at the moment. What I’m missing here is hills. Are you still training in the palace grounds? I would imagine the hills make hr training harder but more rewarding xx

[Clairecandothis Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Hidden]

It certainly focuses you doesn't it? Ha yeah there are very few flat bits in Blenheim. Ironically I need to start looking for flatter routes as Bournemouth is a flatish run I think! I'm lucky though, the local villages surrounding Blenheim are fairly flat so as my runs get longer I will head out of Blenheim too. You should sneak in for a run one week Flick, it is beautiful and your poetic descriptions could do it justice! Xx

[Hidden in reply to Clairecandothis]

It would be a bit if a haul from Abingdon by bus possibly. I loved it when I did the two 10k races there last autumn.

You really do need to get some flat running practice. The leg muscles are different. I hated running here to begin with, my feet felt like flippers and I felt as if I was sinking into the ground at every stride. In Chippy I had mild shin splints after long runs. When I came here those vanished, but my calves hurt higher up. Adapting to the flat after being used to hills takes time xx

[Clairecandothis Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Hidden]

Yeah I will run flatter routes. I'm also heading to Bournemouth to see how flat the route is! Yeah Abingdon to Blenheim is two buses away, my mum lives that way and we always meet in Oxford lol. You have adapted to so much with your running xx

[Hidden in reply to Clairecandothis]

I really really miss those hills! Xx