W4 D4 & D5 – Gentle jog and ‘Race’ day

Saturday morning was the designated 4M slow warm-up jog in preparation for the Sunday run and following a rest day on Friday. Plotting a loop online during the week I took to the frosty streets. The route I chose was hilly to say the least, thinking back now I don’t remember more than 200m that was flat, however this did not come as a suprise as I had done stretches of the route before. Easy 4m under the recommended time, perfect!

Sunday was billed in the diary as the first ‘race’. Having not been able to find an organised run to enter at the required distance (10km) I realised I would have to do it alone. I was also very aware of how quickly I was supposed to do it and wasn’t overly confident of my own ability to meet the target of sub 47mins. During the last summer I ran the British 10k in 46mins so know I can do it, however it wasn’t to be the case on Sunday.

At 9am with my Garmin ‘virtual partner’ calibrated to come in at 47mins I set off, I don’t think I managed to keep up with my partner for even a mile. I couldn’t push myself faster when I dropped time and gradually if the watch was real he would have left my sight completely. I managed to complete the 10k run in about 49mins, way off my summer speed which left me questioning what was different… when I look back at my training for that 10k I focused on intervals and ensured my base rate was 12km/h perhaps I need to push myself more on that rate whilst in the gym. I also did a lot of spinning classes back them which I am going to start up again during my Monday running rest days.

I’m not going to beat myself up too much about it, I was on my own which I never find easy and it wadnt actually an event so there was no adrenalin pumping. Also on the plus the time I did fit in well with the next schedule down which if I’m totally honest with myself is the one I should be following!

A quick squint at the W5 schedule appears to introduce the first Fartlek system, having never used this method before it’s going to be interesting to see how that goes – may try to rope in a partner for that…

Till next time.

N