A good short run!

I completed week 9 today, and although the temperature outside was absolutely freezing, I was at least rewarded with the view above. This week I finally had a good short run. After 8 weeks of terrible short runs it has now been proven that a good short run is possible. If you haven't been following this blog, ever since I started my running training the second run of each week is a designated short run. This has always been the least enjoyable (until this week), as I have always felt tired, my legs always hurt and felt heavy, and I usually struggled to breathe comfortably.

End of week 8

I've reached the end of week 8 and ran for 20 uninterrupted minutes today for the first time. Yay!

Next week is the second "easy" week, which just means I'm not expected to add any more distance to my training. During the last easy week I decided to experiment with cadence, because mine is pretty low (definitely more a jogging pace than running). I'll probably do that again because today I was experiencing some shin pain, which I'm pretty sure is due to my slow pace.

This article explains how increasing running cadence reduces the stress on bones and soft tissues, and ultimately the pain you experience while running. It also explains the danger of making any drastic changes, so a very gradual approach seems to be the way forward.

Week 6

In a fleeting moment of optimism I Googled the weather forecast for this week, see left. Running today seemed like a good idea.

Today I started my Week 6 training with the following:

Run 8 walk 3 x3

Running for 8 minutes doesn't sound very impressive at first, but the DCCT plan points out that when starting from just 1 minute of running, running for 8 minutes is an 800% improvement, which sounds pretty good! I must say, I was worried when I set out that I wouldn't be able to run for 8 minutes. I was having flashbacks to how my lungs struggled to manage 5 minutes and thought this might be their breaking point. I ran. I didn't break. Even better, I quite enjoyed myself. This seems bonkers given how challenging the past few weeks have been, but it seems I'm finally noticing some improvements in my fitness. The day I thought would never arrive is here!

My training plan suggested I'd notice the iomprovements in my fitness arouund week 4. For me it took until week 6, so I guess the lesson is to keep at it, trust the plan, and stay positive.