The training has begun
Well, it really began a month or so, but this week I upped the mileage in accordance with the training plan. Yes, I’ve already missed a midweek session – my excuse being that I didn’t look at the plan until Thursday. Not too important at this stage.
On Saturday morning I went for a jog around the suburbs of Birmingham with my brother-in-law Ian, and the weather confirmed that autumn is definitely here. The idea was to do an hour, which should be roughly 7 miles. It was quite grim to start with – probably not helped by unfamiliar surroundings, and running with someone else which I’m not used to. After a while, the doubts started setting in:
"I’ve only done half an hour, think what four and a half will be like."
"What am I letting myself in for?"
"Why am I doing this?"
However, after about 40 minutes I settled into a rhythm and the various worrying twinges settled down into dull aches. As it happened, our route took in a running track and I was able to time myself at about 2:20 for a 400m lap, which sounds appallingly slow but is actually about 9:20 for a mile – certainly faster than it felt. Based on that time I’ve put 6.5 miles in the log, which must be about right.
Admittedly, I was very glad to stop after an hour, but I felt good afterwards and there was only a little soreness the following day. Today, I’m (almost) raring to go for my shorter, faster midweek session.
Hopefully, by the time the dark, rainy nights of mid-November arrive, I’ll be able to draw inspiration from this rather than just laughing.
On Saturday morning I went for a jog around the suburbs of Birmingham with my brother-in-law Ian, and the weather confirmed that autumn is definitely here. The idea was to do an hour, which should be roughly 7 miles. It was quite grim to start with – probably not helped by unfamiliar surroundings, and running with someone else which I’m not used to. After a while, the doubts started setting in:
"I’ve only done half an hour, think what four and a half will be like."
"What am I letting myself in for?"
"Why am I doing this?"
However, after about 40 minutes I settled into a rhythm and the various worrying twinges settled down into dull aches. As it happened, our route took in a running track and I was able to time myself at about 2:20 for a 400m lap, which sounds appallingly slow but is actually about 9:20 for a mile – certainly faster than it felt. Based on that time I’ve put 6.5 miles in the log, which must be about right.
Admittedly, I was very glad to stop after an hour, but I felt good afterwards and there was only a little soreness the following day. Today, I’m (almost) raring to go for my shorter, faster midweek session.
Hopefully, by the time the dark, rainy nights of mid-November arrive, I’ll be able to draw inspiration from this rather than just laughing.
