I’m really proud of myself for sticking with it. It’s getting more and more difficult every day, but I’m focussing very strongly on the fact that all I have to do is run for 1 minute longer than I already achieved yesterday. I've been mixing the routes up, runnig in places like Cramond foreshore, Portobello promenade, the Meadows park, and even a very early morning Princes Street in the fog! I'll admit I've been sticking to very, very flat routes, but I'm a bit scaredy of the hills at the moment. My pace is slowing as the time increases, of course – but I’m doing okay. The challenge isn’t about pace, though of course I want to try and keep a steady consistent pace during each run itself, I’m not worried about speed. Logically, I guess, I can’t really push for speed when I’m running every single day, and pushing past any level of running I expected I’d be able to do! So, here’s the little update:
| Time (mins) | Pace mins/mile | |
|---|---|---|
| Day 10 . | ||
| Day 11 | ||
| Day 12 | ||
| Day 13 | ||
| Day 14 | ||
| Day 15 | ||
| Day 16 | ||
| Day 17 | ||
| Day 18 |
So, to repeat myself from the last entry, I think we're STILL calling this a success!! As before, most days my run is just a short run/walk warm-up, the number of minutes run, then a short cool-down run/walk. Day 13 was parkrun day, so again I ran at Perth, this time aiming for 13 minutes at the beginning then run/walk after. Sharon from the clyderunners running group ran alongside me, chattering away to keep me distracted, and it worked like a dream, she was amazing! In total, I took about 30 seconds off my previous week’s time, so I’m happy with that, but more happy that I was continuing the challenge chain. Sharon and her sister Fiona both came up, and we had a cuppa afterwards – they’re both pretty inspirational runners, really, in kind of different ways. It was a good run, and fab to see a big bunch of the Strathclyde parkrun team there too; they’ve been doing a bit of parkrun tourism while they’re ousted from their own run while the Commonwealth Games are on.
Tomorrow, because I have yet to run it, will be an “eighteenplusone” minute run! It feels mentally easier to tell myself that, haha, after I achieved eighteen today. Once I've done it (and I will!) it'll become the nineteen minute run. :-) My legs are feeling a bit heavy tonight, after a great circuits session in the gym yesterday morning than included kettlebell swings, squats with a weighted bar, weighted lunges, and so on – nothing was intense enough to give me DOMS, but the number of reps in total means my legs are definitely feeling heavy. Tonight I’ll need to do some stretching: I’m terrible about stretching, and awfully inflexible as a result, and I know there’s a world of different opinions out there about the value of stretching, and when to do it, but all I know is my legs are feeling tight, and heavy, and I think I could benefit with a hot shower, followed by some stretching, this evening. We’re experiencing a mini heatwave, of sorts, at the moment – and I’ve not got the energy for much in the evening, so I think I’ve hit upon a plan. And with that, I’m away! x x
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ReplyDeleteI'll try again. It's been fun and inspiring to follow your challenge. Keep up the great work Sarah x
ReplyDeleteI had been wondering about how you were getting, fingers crossed that the gap between posts will have been filled with lots more progress. 18 minutes without stopping is a real success - twice as much as you were chuffed with in your last post, simple maths tells us you have every right to be twice as proud of yourself!
ReplyDeleteMost impressive is that this running progression shows that you've run everyday for the past 18 days, this show great commitment - and actually is a bigger achievement than a single one off 30 minute run. For sure it'll be making you fitter physically as well as mentally. As the challenge progresses don't try to take on too much other training on, the running all by itself will be doing wonders for your fitness.
With the warm weather, perhaps heading out first thing might required. Also keep the pace down right from the start to avoid accumulating too much heat.
Static stretching hast been found to be harmful for runners, studies have shown it weakens muscles and can damage them. Have a read of the Sock Doc's blog:
http://www.sock-doc.com
He has lots of good articles and why you shouldn't static stretch and what dynamic, natural movement exercises to do instead to help keep you flexible and strong. A quick check of his blog shows that he's written a few new posts on motivation which seems perfect timing for your challenge.
Good luck. You CAN do it! Celebrate ever minute milestone :-)
Thanks! It's getting tougher and tougher to get out and get my run done, but today (day 19) I managed to get through it, including a couple of small inclines AND a sprint finish! (Turns out when you measure your runs by time, rather than distance, running faster doesn't make it finish any sooner, haha....)
DeleteI've - in the main - been doing my runs early morning, before breakfast. Partly it's because I don't have a lot of energy after a day at work, but mainly it's exactly like you say, it's a cooler time of day. I'm amazing myself every day, now, but it's not getting any easier...! :-)
I'll check out the link, thanks. I've read dozens and dozens of articles and guidance on stretching, over the years, and generally the only real conclusion is that everyone has different ideas!! I would never do static stretches from 'cold', but I feel that some of the static stretches give me a better feeling than the dynamic ones - when I do them, it's always after some warm-up exercise first. Dynamic stretches are defintiely good to do; I don't do them enough to get the benefits, at the moment, and I'm terribly inflexible! Must do better. :-)
Studies have found that running economy in runners is correlated with stifness , many elites can't touch their toes in a forward bend. So I wouldn't worry about being a bit stiff.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is a big milestone, 20 minutes of continuos running will be great to achieve. next big milestone after this will be two miles.
Take it nice slow tomorrow, Sumon up that running smile before you run whilst thinking about pushing strongly through the 20 minute marker, and then each time you pass each minute. Good luck.