It's been a shortened programme - where the 9 week c25k took me 10 weeks, the 10 week OHR has taken me about 8.
I wasn't sure how far I'd be going this morning, I'd planned at least 54 minutes. It was hard going for the first 30, I'm over my sore throat, but have been left with a cough. I was prepared to give up, but somehow never quite got to that point.
At the 40 minute mark I left the streets and ran along the stopbanks toward the main road. I seemed to get my second wind, and the last stretch home wasn't too bad. Except where I had to go up and over the railway tracks, I had been feeling good, and powered up the slope a little too fast. Not the thing to do when you've got a mild cold...I could hear my breathing getting worse and on the way down I was sucking in air like an asthmatic. Took it easy for the last few minutes and by the time i reached the 60 minute end point, I wasn't feeling too bad. But I was pretty glad I stopped only about 200-300m from home. Warmed down with 20 minutes of yoga - I've found a short program that is rather good for stretching and relaxing after a run.
I managed an average pace of 7.44min / km - which isn't too bad, considering I picked a route that included a bit of hill work.
Not sure where too now, I'll keep up with the 30 minute week day runs, and a 60 minute Sunday run, but need to figure out how to push myself out of the comfort zone.
I'm tentatively planning my first 5km run with a friend next month, so that is a short term goal anyway. I'd like to crack the 35 minute mark by then...
Congrats, Scoob! From what I'm told, long slow runs will help you meet the 5K < 35 goal. In terms of pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, what I do is to sometimes think about running "comfortably hard". Perhaps do a couple of km at 8 min/km, then do one km comfortably hard. It might already be better than 7 min/km.
ReplyDeleteGreat job. The longer runs will pay off big time for you down the road.
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