Puffing around Roath Park Lake.

Last night was interval training at the club. It involved running backwards and forwards along a 500 metre stretch of road, until we had reached a total of 5k. And for the first time, it actually felt ok. I was the slowest person there, although I can't see that changing for some time yet, but again because of the way that the session is organised, no one gets left behind or is unable to participate in the session. I did get lapped by the faster runners 3 times, but its the taking part that counts I reckon.

Over chips and cheese in the bar afterwards, Chris who is the club coach suggested, that as I can now run 3 miles without stopping, I should now be fitting in a longer run on my own, trying to add an extra mile each week. Since there are 15 weeks until race day ?!!!?? that will give me some extra time if I am unable to complete it and need to repeat a week and still take me up to running the entire distance.

So armed with that knowledge, this evening I headed out into the night to see if I could manage 4 miles. I am grateful that I chose to take on this challenge when I could do most of my training in the dark; I'm not sure that the people living in the posh houses surrounding Roath Park Lake are ready just yet for the sight of me puffing along the pavement, getting increasingly red in the face with every step. There weren't many people out and about at 9pm on a Thursday, other than "proper runners" with their reflective go faster stripes and heart rate monitors, who pretend that they haven't noticed an amateur like me in a tatty t shirt barely going faster than walking pace.


Much to my amazement, I completed the entire 4 miles without stopping to walk, so I must be getting the pacing right and not setting off too fast. I'm still quite slow though, so I'm hoping that will improve with practice. But for the first time tonight, I got the feeling that I might actually be able to do this.


Here is today's little bit of helpful motivational guidance:

 
Thank you for reading.