The Week I Ran Happy

This week, for many reasons, personally I have been a bit all over the place - however my body has finally stopped aching all over the place; so there has been some good news! The past two weeks have being dominated by DOMS, firstly following the London Marathon and secondly as I tried to get back into training again. It has been a joy this week to be able to move without wincing, and an even bigger joy to set an unexpected new PB... 

MONDAY: a steady 5k run on the treadmill - yes, the treadmill. I was at the gym waiting for my Body Pump class (which was then cancelled!) so thought I would give it a go. I didn't hate it and I completed it, which even though it was a relatively small run, the last time I attempted a treadmill run (we are talking over a year ago) I bailed after ten minutes - so a success! 

TUESDAY: I wanted to push both myself and the pace a little today. Intervals could have been an option, but I really struggle to motivate myself to go out and run intervals without a plan telling me to. So I opted for a 5 mile progression run instead, starting at 8.24 min/mile pace and finishing at 7.25 min/mile pace. Abs at the gym afterwards. 

WEDNESDAY: a steadier paced 6.5 mile run in beautiful sunny conditions before my Body Pump class.

THURSDAY: Body Attack class in which the countless plyometric lunges and tuck jumps reduced me to a hot, sweaty mess. 

FRIDAY: Rest Day 

SATURDAY: waking up with a slight muzzy head (no idea what from and definitely not alcohol induced!) I messaged my friend and said I was not expecting much from my parkrun performance today. I later had to eat those words as we stood catching our breaths by the finish funnel and I coyly admitted that I had just ran a new PB - 21:19. I honestly do not know where that run came from. I ran the first lap of the three loop course very fast, which is not unusual for me, but usually leads to me dropping the pace slightly for the following two laps. As I completed the second lap I noticed my pace had only dropped very marginally, and suddenly I began to think I could get close to a PB if I could just maintain my pace and not slow anymore. There was not a lot of room for error, a few too many seconds slower this mile and any hopes of a PB would be gone. I did not look at my watch on this lap though and just ran hard. My legs were struggling for a sprint at the end but I forced them to push for the line. I was almost in shock as I glanced at my watch and saw the PB - a dazed but happy smile which I think is reflected well in the photo my friend took of me afterwards (see image).

SUNDAY: a lovely sunny 12 mile run with my friend. We kept the pace comfortable and just enjoyed being out. Completely by accident I managed to plan a perfect route which saw us running the same roads at the same time as the elite female cyclists taking on the Lincoln Grand Prix Cycle Race. It was fascinating to be able to pause the Garmin, stand to the side and watch as the cyclists absolutely whizzed past us on mass. At the end of our run I jogged an extra half mile back to my house and just felt very happy after an equally pleasant run. It is nice to have runs like that sometimes, when you are not pushing yourself really hard, when you are not running for miles and miles, but when you are running just for sheer enjoyment. The run signified a good weekend of running in general - which personally I needed.