I did some long(ish) distance running and didn't die! W00t!!!

[Captain Badass]

So I've always been more of a sprinter. Lots of power and speed in the legs and absolutely no stamina. At school I was excused from cross country - in the cold winter air my lungs would feel like they were on fire and my low blood pressure would make me feel dizzy. Because of this and the family history of asthma, I was too was diagnosed with the condition and never ran any sort of distance other than the 'run-to-the-train-station' sprint. After some months of kettlebells I realised I could do this even faster. After a month of 10K training I could do it without breaking a sweat. I'm training for my first race, which will be a 10K on 12th July. I've tried pace monitoring before with Adidas' Micoach, but felt the zones were far too lenient. In fact, looking at my records from 4 years back, my 29 year-old self was a whole load slower than I am today. I'm using a classic 16-week programme (just finished Week 4) which consists on alternating days of steady, fast and slow runs.

 

To get to the point, today I ran a comfortable 4.38 miles in 50 mins, giving me an average pace of 11'26". Last week I did 45 mins at an average of 12'07" THAT'S A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE! I know it's pretty slow (although it's supposed to be) - my faster pace puts me at just under 10 mins.

 

I wasn't pace-watching, just listening to my body. Was really dreading the run today, as I felt a bit underfuelled, and there was a cold wind so there was a good chance I'd get really painful earache. I also seem to have have this deep-rooted fear that I'm going to have some sort of hypoglycaemic episode far from home, even though that's never happened to me while running. Must be from lifelong memories of burning lungs and wobbly legs... Anyway, I stuck my in-ear headphones in firmly with a Buff over the top and ventured forth in my long-sleeve top and running gloves. I won't lie and say it was easy, but to be honest the horrible bits were only really in the 'uncomfortable' region of pain. I even made it into the I-can-do-this-forever! zone.

 

In just under a month I'll be off to the Lake District, where I'll be doing a week's worth of hill-walking with my satyr-legged boyfriend. Thankfully this coincides with a recovery week, so I shouldn't have to be thinking about balancing up the walking with running about. Last time I went about 18 months ago I did have a hypoglycaemic moment (so, yeah it's actually happened once) when I was alone on a steep climb and I had to have a sit down by the side of the road with some dark chocolate till the sugar did its thing. Hopefully the training has gone some way to stop something like that happening again.

 

I've never run for 50 mins, and according to Runkeeper it's my fastest pace for a 3-5 mile run. It's not record-breaking, but it is my personal best, so I'm chuffed. I've also got kettlebells in a bit, so think of me. I'm going to be thinking about the fact I'll shortly be Eating All The Things.

[AmandaM]

I love those days. I had one last week (fastest 10k) and one today (fastest 5k) and they're just excellent feelings. Go you!