The running week

This week has seen the third week of really good solid running endeavour. It has been great, and I even have a feeling the addiction level is creeping up too. The increase in enjoyment probably because I am following a plan, getting out regularly, feeling benefits, and feeding the whole thing with bits of tech here and there (borrowing my wife's garmin GPS, writing about training on blogger, etc.).

The two runs this week started with a monster, 10.1 miles with a burst of 15 mins at quicker pace inserted part way round. I took the first run as the opportunity to really try out my wife's garmin watch. It was extremely helpful, especially as I find it is quite easy to loose pace and even perspective of time on a long run.

The graph on the left shows my half mile split times, the one on the right some way point markers (the middle bar of the five is my pace burst).

It was fabulous to see that I had succeeded in lifting the pace as the plan had instructed. Although it was very tough when I slowed down, I find big pace changes pretty awkward. I think I change my running form to much at pace changes which leads to some of the discomfort. Happily most of the way I continued to feeling my wind improving, the breathing seemingly better each run at the moment.

The second run was an 'easy' run which is to say I wasn't supposed to tax myself too much. Running at chatting pace, without huge efforts. I did manage to reign myself back for most of the 5.7 miles and finished it in a bit over 58 mins. There were a couple of times where I had to hold onto the plan a bit, the temptation to run on a bit was very strong. I did in fact give in to a pace increase for a short while, but I can blame that on the fact that that stretch was downhill, honest!

Mrs. Taffi has been going great guns with her half-marathon training too, she is progressing really well. Better in fact than she often gives herself credit for, I think she is going to enjoy her first ever half-marathon. She is preparing well, checking out energy gels, planning new routes every week, running with a good friend for some runs, and generally being brilliantly organised. It is her efforts and progress that has in many ways fuelled my renaissance in the last few weeks - "Thank you".

It has been good to keep my training table rolling along, and include some re-measured cycle commuting route distances. Three days a week I do the nursery run, which is proving good resistance training especially as every week the cargo seems heavier! It is good to be 'on the move', even if it is mostly 'on the run' just now.

PS. weight update on Sunday should be interesting this week after three weeks of training.

PS. apparently blogger says this month already there have been blog visitors from Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States - Hope you are all happy and 'on the move', and if you happen to pop back leave me a comment to let me know if you are :-)