New record, new week

Something of to celebrate after my weekend run, a new personal best! The training plan suggested either an hour and forty pace run or a 10k race. In the interests of time I went with the shorter option, running a 10k. Only I hadn't entered a race so I choose a 10k course and went out as if I were in a race. So I set off with purpose and tried to maintain that intensity (pace) through the run. It was a lovely morning and it was really quiet on the trail. Half way around the 'course' I knew I would do well if only I could hold things together over the second half.

It was mentally a very different exercise from running from A to B in such and such a time. I really did manage to get myself into the right kind of competitive frame of mind. My 10k time in the end was 54min 47sec, a best by some margin although not of course an officially timed event. As soon as I slowed up for the short walk home the heavens opened and I received an early cold shower. I arrived on the doorstep looking like someone had thrown several buckets of water over my head!

In hindsight it was probably going to be a good run, because I had been really chuffed at losing 4lbs since my previously first Sunday of the month weigh-in. I weigh in every week for my graph (graph geek!) but I have recently plotted the monthly figure to give an easier to read all time trend. It was great to see a nice steep drop on the monthly plotted graph - which I will post up later.

Thanks to some moment of insanity I went onto a well known internet store and purchased a copy of Jillian Michaels "30-day Shred". It was a moment of 'oh, perhaps I could cross train a bit', coupled with 'those people on the calorie counting site rave about that DVD'. If it ever makes it into the DVD player I'll let you know what happens, that is the things aside from my wife crying with laughter!

In other news over the weekend was that the Cardiff Half Marathon is now full! They apparently have all of their 15,000 runners signed up and accounted for. My wife and I happily signed up some while back, and aside from getting on with the training have the grand parents booked to look after the kids. They will no doubt grab a nice coffee somewhere, whilst we both run around the fair city of Cardiff of a Sunday morning in mid-October.