Training log

A pair of trainers, dumbbells, mobile phone and bottle of water on a wooden floor.

The last couple of weeks have been good, even though I’ve not run as much as I wanted to. I’ve fitted in a variety of runs including my fastest 5km since February 2020.

On Tuesday 8th, I did a 12-minute online workout. It’s one that Stuart used to do when he was training for his ironman.

At points, Stu was in agony and I couldn’t feel the stretches in the right places, so I think I couldn’t have been doing it right.

My first long run of training

On Wednesday 9th, I went out at lunchtime and did a 5km run up and down the hills near my home. It felt very slow, but I couldn’t make myself run faster. Ultimately, I looked at my time and realised that I had run more slowly than M at parkrun. I need to up my game! Whilst M was at gymnastics, I jogged another 3.1km. It was slightly quicker than at lunchtime as it was flat… but the field I ran around was overgrown. The long grass was hard to run on.

I had been considering doing some track running on Thursday lunchtime, but heavy rain was forecast, so I decided to do some yoga instead.

Southampton parkrun with M

It was my turn to parkrun with M. We gave her some new trainers for her birthday, which she said made her feel faster. Even though it was rainy, she started off enthusiastically. M loves to try to beat other runners who talk to her. We saw Reena and her friend, Nadia, on our first lap, but I didn’t get to chat much as M sped off.

As we moved more, the rain dried off and M warmed up. She took her jacket off and RD Jill kindly took it from me.

On the second lap, we played cat-and-mouse with Lee. I thought he was going to beat us, but Stu joined us on the final downhill, which spurred M on. I was so proud of her for achieving her first sub-40-minute time. (She finished in 39:53).

parkrun results email for event #465. 39:16.
We finished in 39:53, but thanks to funnel duckers, we received a significantly faster time.

Lordshill track session

I can’t remember the last time that I did a track session, so I was excited about this. (It was probably when M was a baby, so 5/6 years ago). However, in the end, there was just too much going on for me to make it. So that I didn’t entirely miss out on a training run, I ran 3km up and down the street near where M has her ballet classes.

Wednesday double run

I was ridiculously optimistic that I might fit in my long run during my lunch break… but as I can’t run 5k in 30 minutes at the moment, 10k in an hour is an impossibility. I didn’t manage to leave my computer on time, so I was quite pleased that I managed to do 7.5km.

In the evening, I met up with Hannah and ran 5km with her. Then I slogged another 2km back home. I can’t remember the last time I managed to run 14km in a day, so I felt quite pleased with myself.

Southampton parkrun solo run

On Saturday 12th, I ran parkrun on my own. I was hoping that I might be able to achieve a sub-30-minute time. It was looking OK when I got to the halfway point, but I was unable to maintain the pace up the hill. By the time I got to the top of the hill, I realised that I was a long way off which was frustrating. I started picking up the pace on the way downhill. I felt optimistic when I got to the flats, even though I knew that I wouldn’t achieve a sub-30 time.

I was absolutely delighted to finish in 30:13, which is my fastest 5km since February 2020.

My final kilometre was at a 5:34/km pace, which I was pleased with. I was 13/34 in my age category and 140/316 women, so I didn’t do too badly. Maybe when I get to run solo again in a fortnight, I’ll finally finish in under 30 minutes.

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