Brave or Foolish?

I hadn’t been out for a few days because I’d not been feeling that great, but I realised I *had* to go out this evening as opportunities were running out, so to speak, before the 5K!

I decided to try running fairly slowly and see where that got me and how I would feel at around 4-5K. Would I have enough “juice” left to sprint finish, or would I feel exhausted much as I had when I did the 5K in 30:38 recently? And whilst I was running I decided to kill two birds with one stone and turn this into my long run. I’ll spend the next week (before I cut back on my training in the few days before the race) on speedwork instead.

So, I decided to run for 5K and then turn back, which conveniently enough is 10K! I was naturally curious to see if I could run a 10K without stopping. At the 5K mark I felt like I had plenty of energy left, although my muscles were getting sore in places and my blister was playing up. My 5K time was 3 minutes slower than the one I did the other day, so I guess yes, I could have done a sprint finish but having already lost 3 minutes I don’t know if I would make up that time. Maybe I should start out faster for the actual race.

On the way back from 5K, the wind was now against me which slowed things down rather. I went past a lady on crutches who said she liked running normally, and I told her I’d been in a wheelchair for four months last year and she looked thrilled and said I had given her hope. So, that’s my good deed for the day! Sadly a bunch of women at a bus stop closer to home yelled out sarcastic comments as I went past so you can’t have everything.

Things got a lot more sore as I went past the 45 minute mark, which is the usual length of my runs. My blister in particular was a bit sore – that’ll be fun. I am starting to think it is the shoes that are the problem. I started feeling a bit achey in new areas so I guess they’ll be sore tomorrow, yay!

The good news though – throughout it all, my heartrate remained steady. Once it had reached the level it was supposed to for that speed (I was deliberately averaging 11 minute miles so as to prevent it going too high) it stayed put and didn’t go up except when I encountered small hills or strong gusts of wind against me. Here’s the proof on this chart that the Garmin spat out for me! (click on it to see a full-size version)

I did the 10K in 67:12, which included having to get through the odd gates here and there and probably losing a bit of distance on the GPS when I turned round. Not bad for a first 10K. I did a little extra just to be sure and it occurred to me that I’m only a few hundred yards short of a quarter marathon without stopping – not bad for 6-7 weeks training! However I do ache, and despite attempts to minimise the pain (I took a cold bath and later applied ice to the sore areas) I think I will be sore tomorrow. Still, from past experience it’s the runs where you really push yourself that you make the most progress.

Next run is scheduled for Saturday all being well, where I will attempt to run as fast as possible until I get exhausted, then slow to 11-12 minute miles, then try sprinting again. All in the interests of improving my speed, as clearly my stamina is more than fine for a 5K!