I had to jiggle the plan around this week as my normal long run would have been on Christmas Day, so I ditched Monday’s interval/fartlek run (yay...oh I mean, what a shame...) and started the week on Christmas Eve, wearing a silly hat 😁
- Run 1: 80 minute long steady run (before long drive). I tried to do a zoned run, keep my heart rate down, go slower, and it was, but it was supposed to be a lower zone, say zone 3. In the end I did keep my heart rate down but only to zone 4, so up to 160bpm which will do. There was an awful lot of traffic about so I finished off my run along a long footpath and into the main part of town by the theatre which is pedestrianised, this helped keep my heart rate down too and my hat made people smile 😁 As the run was slower than I’d usually run, it was just under 11km. I’m not still not very good at trying to run slowly but it’s the first long run I haven’t been in zone 5 at all.
- Run 2: This was a sneaky little run to say I’d run on Christmas Day, so completely off plan. Shouldn’t have really as the legs were very tired...ah well. We were in North Wales and there is a little bridge over the main dual carriageway that always reminds me of a bridge at home that I’d done the day before, so we ran over that and onto the coastal path and back. A nice little 25 minute run.
- Run 3: Back home. This was my ‘optional’ 20 minute run. After the amount of food I’ve consumed, it really wasn’t optional, so Katnap and I whizzed round a familiar route as fast as my creaky legs could carry me (i.e. not very!).
- Run 4: Before visiting my parents, we did Bury St Edmunds parkrun to stretch our legs after a long drive - boy it was muddy!! It’s been cancelled the past two weeks and I’m not surprised, it was a bit of a quagmire. I’d christened my trail shoes here a year earlier and they got very well used on this run, I nearly even lost one when the mud started sucking it away from my foot 🤣. Katnap came in fastest, despite slipping over, with youngest kitten coming in next in his (now not so) shiny new running socks. I went just over 30 minutes but I got a podium place for my age grade and I’d cut over 6 minutes off the previous run a year earlier so I was very happy. Eldest kitten got bamboozled by the mud and decided to (very sensibly) keep it steady, but he finished and was probably the cleanest of us all 😁
The week was finished off with my usual cross training at the gym. Would I have done all of this in Christmas week without my HM plan telling me to? Probably not! I can definitely recommend it - I’m so glad I started this early as these past weeks have really got me off to a flying start: this month has seen my most number of running miles. I am, however, starting to really look forward to my cut back week shortly after new year, I think my body really deserves it (but at least I’ll have burnt the Christmas calories off first!).
So New Year is nearly upon us. The gym will get very busy and we may get colder weather (it’s got to come surely?) but I know you lot will be out there plodding the pavements, trails and (in desperation) treadmills. Have a great 2020 everyone and keep safe 🎉🎉🎉
