Finding My Inner Runner

Hard to believe, but apparently it's true (according to the training pace calculator on Runner's World). So far this month, I've done 7 runs. 4x5k, 1x6k and 2x10k. My 5k average is 7:00/km, my 10k average is 7:43/km and my 6k run was 8:02/km. My overall average across all runs was 7:21/km. Now, I don't actually pay too much heed to my pace when I'm running, I tend to just go with how I'm feeling. When the km split goes off, I may take a quick look at my watch to see how I've progressed over the previous km and typically I'm in the 6:15-8:15/km range depending on the terrain, the temperature, how far I've run already, in varying combinations. It's a comfortable pace. My average time for 5k (since completing Couch to 5k) is 36:52 with a PB of 33:29. Almost all of my running is, however, done at a faster pace than the calculator suggests is my easy pace of 8:45/km. Should I slow down, or should I just carry on running at the pace I run at, ...

So, Monday night is "traditionally" (if you can call something stretching back a little over 6 weeks a tradition) my long run night. With the temperature being more than I'm accustomed to at 21°C, I wasn't expecting to get far but I decided I'd aim for 5k and see how I felt. The first 5k came in as my fifth fastest ever, so that was a pleasant surprise. The second 5k, was unexpected and, at a shade over 39 minutes, still wasn't too shabby. Suffice to say, that despite the heat, a 20k bike ride yesterday and a parkrun PB on Saturday, I still managed to knock over 5 minutes of my previous 10k PB, coming home in 1 hour 14 minutes. To say I'm feeling somewhat chuffed would be a bit of an understatement. Delighted now, but not looking forward to how my legs will feel tomorrow morning. That said, it's a good problem to have, I guess...

Thanks to hectic schedule this past few weeks, Saturdays have either been spent doing rugby things, or been my rest day, so this was my first Parkrun on a few weeks. A brief, but intense downpour accompanied the pre-run briefing, but it stopped just as we started running in much more clement conditions. It was muddy and slippery underfoot, but that clearly wasn't too much of a hindrance as I posted my new PB of 32:12 for that route . The post-run coffee and caramel shortbread definitely seemed well earned.

Being able to run for 30 minutes is a huge achievement. Being able to run 5k is another huge achievement. Being able to run 5k in 30 minutes, well, I'm sure that will be a massive achievement too, if I ever get there. Last night, in a few seconds shy of 80 minutes, I ran 10k. For me, that was a truly massive achievement. I can't take running 30 minutes or running 5k away from what I've achieved over the past 4 months, but while I was doing C25K, I always felt like a bit of an imposter. So many of the people on the programme have either never ran, or haven't done so for many years, and they were getting out and going for it. Me? Well, as a referee, I've been running for many years. Yes, it's only been short dashes of up to 100m, but it means I have a certain amount of experience of running in my legs, and an "above the couch" level of fitness. Does that detract from what I achieved in completing the programme? No, it doesn't. But for those...

Back at the start of March, after an 8 month lay-off, I picked up where I left off on week 2 and restarted my Couch to 5k journey.  I completed the plan on 7 May, running 5k in a time of 39:21. Today, just shy of 4 months later, I ran 10k non-stop for the first time in my life with a time of 1:19:36. It hadn't been my intention to run that far tonight; I wasn't due to make my first attempt at the distance until next week. Tonight I was aiming for 8.5-9k but it just felt right and I kept going and, well, the result is what it is... Feeling dead chuffed with my achievement, but I need to thank everyone on the forum for their encouragement and support at all points along this journey and (I'm sure) for the continued encouragement on what is still to come. I'm off to give my poor legs a well earned rub down...