This post originally appeared on Ben’s old blog, Running From the Physio.
A week in which I probably certainly ran too fast…
Tuesday: 3.09 miles @ 8:53 min/mile
For the first time in a while, I went for a run before work. I am very much not a morning person, so this is usually a big no no. However, juggling running, baby duties and my wife’s exercise regime is becoming increasingly difficult, so I thought I had better try and compromise. I’m aiming to do all of my two and three mile weekday runs in the mornings, but it might take a while to convince my body to agree. The run itself was reasonably good, my calf muscles suffered a little bit due to the lack of a warm-up in the cold morning air.
Wednesday: 2.20 miles @ 8:32 min/mile
This run was also meant to be before work. It wasn’t. I’d struggled to get to sleep, and as a result I was unwilling to give up my duvet in the morning. In retrospect I guess I could have taken it with me, but I guess my wife would have been less than happy with this arrangement! I then had a pretty long, full-on, day at work and had absolutely no desire to go for a run. Given all of that, I was not expecting good things. But running can surprise, and this run was like a little hug bubble. I slipped into a “zone” and just ran, shaking off all of my daytime worries. This so rarely happens that I was sorely tempted to keep running after my two-mile lap, but I resisted, figuring that my training plan works both ways.
Thursday: 5.97 miles @ 8:37 min/mile
As I described on my RunKeeper description for this run: “Either my recovery week has worked miracles, or it’s really messed up my timing.” This was the fifth run in a row in which I ran sub-9 minute miles. Which isn’t particularly fast, but it is certainly faster than I’m meant to be running on my training runs. Still, the run was injury- and niggle-free, so I’m not complaining.
Saturday: 3.14 miles @ 7:15 min/mile
Not a parkrun. As I was volunteering at my parkrun this week, I had to run later in the day. I uhmmed and ahhhed for a while over whether I should go at my normal training plod, or push along at a parkrun-esque pace. I chose the latter. I’ve been carefully making sure that I don’t push too hard during my half-marathon training, mostly because the emphasis is on keeping myself in one piece and just getting the damn thing done. As a result, I’ve not just let myself run hard outside of a few races and parkruns. So this was fun! I was pretty chuffed with my time, especially as I was running alone.
Sunday: 8.96 miles @ 8:47 min/mile
The downside of running hard at half past four on a Saturday afternoon is that I was really aching before I even went out for my long run on Sunday! Again, my pace was quicker than 9 minute miles. My left knee pain returned during this run at various stages, and at points was very painful. That said, towards the end it was almost non-existent, and it was gone completely within a few minutes of finishing. I also suffered from some pain in my left foot itself. It felt like my shoe-lace was too tight, but it might also be due to the loop lacing that I have tried since getting these shoes. I’m considering whether to lace the left shoe normally while leaving the right shoe looped, but I don’t know if that would feel weird.