A tale of two runs

“Jog in again today, Chris? Nice day for it.”

Except it didn’t feel like a nice day for it. Sure, by the time I was showered and at my desk, it looked like a beautiful day outside – clear blue skies, sun shining. I bet it looked a nice day from behind the steering wheel too. 

But go back to when I stepped out of the house at 7.20, and it felt altogether different. For a start, my legs seemed to have only just got over my Sunday run, and to be honest, were quite aggrieved that I was about to put them through another run so soon – if not ever.

Add to that the fact it was dark – I’ve no idea if it was clear sky or not because, to be honest, I didn’t look up that high. You see, as well as the legs protesting, my head was also in strictly “stare at the floor in protest” mode.

Finally, and what you couldn’t see from my desk was that there was noticeable breeze too.

In short, this morning I did not want to run. At all.

With that in mind, I was glad to have left the car at home at all, never mind to have been told my the nice Nike+ lady that I had somehow managed to stay under 5min/km for the full three miles into the office.

But had it felt like a nice day for it? Not one bit.

Oh, and by the way, No I didn’t jog in today. I ran.

This evening couldn’t have been more different. Though dark again, my legs had warmed up and realised that just because I was putting my running shoes on didn’t mean I was heading out for another 10 miler. I also knew it had been a nice day, and bothered to look up this time to see that there were still clear skies overhead.

More than that, after just over half a mile, a colleague beeped as she drove past in her car. Not normally something to cheer me up, but seeing as she’d left the office a minute or two before me, I felt quite pleased that I’d covered so much ground faster than she’d managed in traffic.

That, together with the menacing strings of Led Zep’s Kashmir, pushed me on to my fastest, most evenly paced run yet – 4:54/km - not particularly fast by old standards, and only over just under 3miles, but improvement nonetheless.

Here are the static graphs, but if you prefer links, here is the morning run and evening run.

 

Two more commutes

Two more commutes today, and more evidence of steady improvement. I love this stage when you’re training for anything – the improvement curve is so steep at the moment that every run has something better than the last.

This morning and it was the pace. I was conscious as I set out this morning that I’d been running as fast or faster during my long Sunday runs than I was in the short sprint to the office, so deliberately set out to lift the pace a little as I trudged along Manchester Road towards Salford.

Unfortunately, while this was working quite well for the first 10 minutes or so, the effects of Sunday’s 9-miler (well, almost!) began to kick in and my legs suddenly felt heavy and lifeless. You can see it clearly on the graph here – a nice steady plateau followed by a sudden dip and then, frankly, a struggle just to keep the pace steady.

That said, I was delighted to get to the end and find I’d broken through the 5min per kilometre threshold I’d been targeting.

I didn’t quite make the same pace on the way home, despite my legs obviously being warmer than they were first thing. That said, I did stretch the route out a little and headed straight down Barlow Moor Road and through Chorlton Park; I felt like I was pushing a little harder than usual – and I did only miss out by a second or two per km.

Not sure if I’m going to squeeze in another commute this week, but my weekly mileage is already up to 15m or thereabouts and I’ll be breaking double figures for my Sunday run for the first time in months this weekend coming, so progress on lots of fronts.

Still a long way to go before I’ll be in a position to enjoy the Coniston 14, but I’m more confident with each run that I’ll at least make it to the starting line.

Next target – the 8min mile.

Two more commutes

Two more short runs to and from the office today.

This morning’s was cold – frost on the cars and occasionally slippy underfoot – but by no means unpleasant running conditions. The real difficulty was that my legs felt empty. I could really feel that I’d put some miles in on Sunday.

Anyway, it’s a great feeling to be at my desk shortly after 8am, having already ticked off a few more k’s.

The route home was much better. Mild, but with very light rain. Really nice to run in. Less traffic, so easier to cross the main roads, and hey – I’ve only about a dozen to negotiate on my route home – and my legs were enjoying being awake.

I tweeted after this morning’s run that I was a long way off the 5min/km threshold that I like to keep under, but tonight’s run turned out to be 5:02/km. To be fair, it felt quite fast, when perhaps it shouldn’t, but that will come in time.

Here are my Nike+ stats for both runs. The route I ran this morning is here, and this evening’s is here.

Morning Run:

Evening Run: