Week 4 day 1

[liv]

I didn't quite complete the Week 4 workout. But on the plus side, I did succeed in restarting after a week off; thanks rmc28 for making a pact with me that we'd both start again this weekend. I managed to drag myself to the gym though I was nearly rooted to my chair having a lazy weekend. (Unquestionably too cold to run outdoors today, in spite of the tempting bright winter sunshine.)

Things I can be proud of: moving at pace (set by the treadmill) for all but the last 2 1/2 minutes. Completing my first continuous 5 minute run, even if I couldn't finish the second long one. Running for a total of 13 1/2 minutes, compared to a maximum of 9 in the previous workouts. Average pace over the whole thing 8'54'' /km – first time under 9 mins/km, so that's considerably faster than I've managed up to now!

As for not completing it, well. I've been off running for 10 days, so I'm possibly starting to be deconditioned. And I still have the remnants of last week's cold on my chest, which doesn't help. If I were running on my own and could slow down a bit during the long runs I think I could probably manage this. I think the thing that defeated me this time is that the recovery periods between the runs aren't long enough for me, certainly not the 90 second ones. After the second 3 minute session I had to walk for 2 minutes to be able to start running again at all, and still couldn't make it past 2'30''.

It's actually quite nice to have found the real (cardiovascular) limit of what I can do at the moment, so that I can try to push that limit. It may take me more than three sessions to actually complete Week 4, but we'll see.

Comments

[rmc28]

Well done for restarting! I think that can be the hardest thing when new habits are disrupted. And thank you for restarting and posting, which was just the extra impetus I needed to get out this morning.

Go you!