Thanks Anja I think I'm being daft and pushing a bit far but want to do it in a respectable time! Work with folk who have done marathons and halfs in the last few weeks so my 5k seems piddly in comparison! So I feel I should aim for a decent time! I know 30 minutes is out of my reach, and I really need to take my own advice and stretch because for the first time in years I can only touch my toes, I can't put my hands flat on the floor. Should start week 8 on Sunday but plan to climb Ben Nevis so I think it'll be Monday at the earliest (particularly if the doms haven't set in!). Otherwise I think I'll be doing r4l without completing, but I guess the race can just be another one of the thirty minute runs?!
I'll continue to plod! And would rather not feel like I'm going to spew when I finish next time! X
Ok,
a, you are doing it in a respectable time already, please believe me.
b, you can't compare yourself to people who run marathons. They train for that - and long in advance. In the month or so up to the Cambridge half-marathon I saw lots and lots of runners every day, whenever I went out myself, and it was still quite wintry and usually dark. They were building up their long-distance stamina. A soon as the even had passed I had the roads back to myself - well nearly.
c, If you're climbing Ben Nevis - WOW - anything you don't do? Start week 8 when you feel comfortable / ready. It's the persistence that will build up your stamina and speed, not individual runs that nearly make you keel over...
d, yes the race really is 'just another' thirty minute run. That's how I treated the last 3Mile Sportrelief one and that's how I'm tackling R4L next. In fact you'll have to contend with 'traffic' etc so don't expect to necessarily run your best time ever. For sportrelief my friend and I ran a slow-ish pace (9min miles - I switched to measuring in miles in the run up to it because the race was in miles), because she was actually doing the 6Miles and had to pace herself, and because lots of people got in the way - including a group of kids hoola-hooping a Mile and we had to overtake them three times (it was a 1Mile course). So I ran 4 Miles in stead of 3 'because I could' ;-) an dI felt good, but then I stopped because I did not want to overdo it. Make sure you're not running the day before, maybe even two days.
My run this morning (well just before lunch actually) was good, if a bit boring as I was doing loops in the park while the kids were playing. I set of at what felt a relaxed comfortable pace and when I checked I was doing 5.15m/km! I did eventually slow down to ~5.3 but I still felt really good. I know that the time of day makes a huge difference to how I feel - and possibly even whether I've had a PP day the day BEFORE! And even though I was much faster than last Thursday I did not feel half as tired! ALso discovered that my DD1 (nearly 8) is a good runner, though she tells me she can't run as fast as some of the kids in her class, but she can sustain longer distances - she ran behind me and completed a 1k loop only about 1/4 behind me, I was very impressed. Totally unexpected, we've not been training or anything. I offered to run a loop together next time but she says she actually prefers running alone! I think I'll be entering her in the next charity run that comes along ;-)!!
