Sunday, 13 September 2015

Week Fourteen - Apprehensively looking forward!

This week started with a 'lovely' Sunday run with the Redway Runners. Note the term 'lovely' is used loosely attributed mainly to having to run up Bow Brickhill PUKE hill! Not my favourite place but I made it to the top and survived the full 90 minute run.

The 'Tour of MK' races run by Milton Keynes Athletics Club started this week and I am in awe of four of my fellow zero's who opted to participate in all six of the races of varying distances across multiple terrains. They are braver souls than me but maybe I will join them next year!

After a rest day Monday and a workout at the gym on Tuesday there was much groaning as my alarm went off at 6am on Wednesday morning. It doesn't matter how they sell it but these newfangled alarm clocks that start slowly and play tinkly music that gradually ascends in volume until you can ignore them no longer are not working for me. It is 6am, it is practically still dark and the idea of going for a run, no matter how short, is not filling me with joy. After taking a few seconds to remind myself of the end goal (and catch 30 seconds more shut eye) I got dressed and left my sleeping family for a quick jog round the village. Once up and out all was ok and I came home feeling much brighter and also very aware that I need to purchase a head torch!

5 miles with Tweedle on Thursday and the weather had decided it was summer again! We made light work of the mileage and got round in a respectable time but it got me thinking a lot about pace. I have established I can ran faster than I ever thought I could over a 5k and I am currently running further than I have in over a decade but finding a happy medium between longer distance and a good pace just isn't happening for me! Maybe I should just forget about pace all together and enjoy the journey.

With our next milestone of 10k fast approaching I have started looking ahead to the next goal, the MK Winter Half in December and something to bridge the gap and make the distance less daunting. The Great South Run looks like a good option so just working up the courage to bite the bullet and sign up. It is Toby's birthday weekend so looks like I might be treating up to water carrying duties in sunny Portsmouth - he's a lucky chap!

The training week concluded with the last race of the tour and a 6 mile race from Woughton. Apparently pronounced "wooften" quite why I am not sure! I had decided earlier in the week that although I would make some effort I wasn't going to go flat out as I wanted to save myself and see if I could beat my 10K PB from the race I did back in July. As some of the zero's are starting to realise it appears I am not physically or mentally able to not go hell for leather in a race scenario. The course measured just over 6.4 miles on my Garmin and my 10k time showed as 51:26 which is definitely a PB and a great way to finish to the week.



A massive well done to Sarah, Paul, Glynis and Jo who finished all six races with happy smiley faces and a special mention to Tweedle who ran even with a stonking hangover!



Amanda

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