A Slow Start

Slowly I am starting to ramp up the distance, and it is not going as well as I had hoped.
The new watch is great for giving me all the information I never had before, such as heart rate, cadence, calories etc, everything most people have taken for granted from their watch for the last 5 years!

Monday I did an easy flat 6 mile loop, part of it on the track, average pace 7;32.

Tuesday I went to speed training for the first time in a long while. I thoroughly enjoyed the company as I normally tend to run on my own. I took the session very easy as I didn't want to push it too hard too soon, not that I would have much in the tank to push right now anyway! It was nice to kind of blow out some cobwebs for a change.

Wednesday was a rest day, and I really needed it after the speed training the night before, my legs were tired, but not quite sore. Thursday again was an easy 6 miles, same pace as Monday.

Friday I decided to re-introduce some hills into the training. At the off, my left hamstring was very tight, and within the first two miles I was almost heading home. I began to think that I was pushing too many miles too quickly, but I have found in the past that if I push on for a few miles the pain / injury / discomfort normally dissipates eventually. This is probably never a good idea, but seems to have worked so far. Anyway, 4 miles in and I had warmed up and the discomfort was a lot less, although the pace was very slow.  The only bonus was that the steep hills were no harder than the flat segments. 7.1 miles at 8:15 average.

Saturday I took as a rest day, the weather wasn't particularly good so I was happy to sit it out. On Sunday I wanted to test the pace a bit over a longer distance. With a potential half marathon in mid March, I needed to find out if it was worth even trying to train for it. So with a planned 11 miles, I set my watch (eventually) for a 7;25 pace. As I set out, I was a bit confused at the pace display which seemed to have me running a lot slower than I would have expected. After the first while I figured out I had set the pace at 7:25 per kilometer, and not mile! So I had to revert to a different screen and run average pace. Anyway, it took about two miles to settle into the pace which felt quite tough initially, but then I settled into a nice stride and it felt a lot easier. Finishing the 11.1 miles at 7:19 average, I was kind of glad it was finished, but pleased with the result. It's a long way off 26.2 at 6:47 I was doing just over two months ago, but as I know my body, I am confident that I can improve if I can get some consistency over a few weeks.

Today was just a recovery week of 6 miles which went well, but I was glad when it was over. It will shortly be time to re-introduce the tempo runs, and the mile repeats sessions, which usually provide the quickest improvement. That's if I can get this watch figured out!