Another week off, this time because I felt like death with some virus thing. At this rate it’s going to take me six grumpy months to get through the 12-week programme.
While the length of these runs aren’t particularly tough yet (the longest was a 3.5m run, with a 4m run coming up next weekend), getting used to back-to-back runs is taking some adjustment. The plan has three back-to-back runs midweek, then a single run at the weekend which gets longer and longer until it’s 6m in the final week. For the first two-thirds or so of the plan, the midweek runs are one medium-length run (3m the whole way through) bracketed with two shorter runs (starting at 1.5m).
This week was a stepback week, which was handy after a week off. 1.5-3-1.5, then another 3 at the weekend.
The 1.5 was fine, and I ended it with a steep uphill which was satisfying. It was pouring with rain, but I don’t mind running in the summer rain so much; it’s cooling, and there’s some satisfaction in being the crazy person out running in the rain.
3 – also went well, and the rain eased off after the first half-mile that day. The hills along the first two miles of that route are definitely getting easier, too. There are two fair-sized hills in the first mile, without anything on the level; the second mile is one long uphill with occasional flat intervals, and it’s nice to be able to cope with it fine when it seemed so intimidating at the beginning. Also glorious views in the post-rain sunshine as soon as I got onto the canal. That whole run felt great.
The final 1.5 I turned into a 2, just to change the route up a little, and ack. The first mile was also two hills, one quite a bit steeper than the usual route, but given that the second mile was nowhere near so bad I can’t understand why it was that much of a struggle. Tough, though. It felt like I never quite recovered from the second steep uphill, and even though I’d got my breath back while running down the other side, the last half-mile of lower hills and level ground was really, surprisingly hard. Weird.
Two rest days, then a 3m run this weekend. At the moment, though, I’m dreading that 4m to come next week!
