I convinced a friend to give the program a crack. There’s nothing like a bit of peer pressure and I worked on the basis that having someone else along would make it a bit more fun and provide some accountability, So we started back at Week 1. I also worked on the basis the extra easier (than week 2) runs would ease me into it a little more, at the end of the day the program is 9 weeks, but it doesn’t matter if it takes longer it’s not a race (ironically).
Run 1 (23/05/2018)
My new running partner’s first run (my 4th) and it showed I felt their pain literally. Although they did a much better job of the first run than I did, there’s no way of escaping the painful truth that we are both very far from fit. For me it was an easier run, having someone along to talk to (although there wasn’t much talking by halfway, just a lot of panting) and share woes with and basically have a laugh made the time pass quicker.
I did make the mistake of doing a 10-mile walk the day before and started to feel it in the last few 60 second runs. I think we’ve already established that running for 30 minutes will be far more effort than walking for 4 hours. So I think I’ll switch to purely running rather than trying to maintain walking long distances going ahead. The rest days in between runs really do have a purpose.
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Run 2 (25/05/2018)
What a nightmare of a run, I really struggled. It was hot and very humid, I ate too close to the run. It was evening as well which I don’t think I like, I think I prefer earlier in the day generally. Just about made it but by far the hardest run full stop, even harder than the first day. Just miserable, even with the company and not to mention soul-destroying after the last run had been so positive.
Luckily I’d read enough about other peoples experiences to know that sometimes you are going to have a bad day. So I’m going to shake it off, make sure I’m better prepared next time and push on. My partner did far better and even on run 2 is showing more natural place. I know from walks they’ve got a naturally longer leg stride than I have which is becoming very apparent.
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Run 3 (31/05/2018)
After the disastrous run two, I made sure I ate 2-hours before the session this time. Thankfully it wasn’t as hot as well, it was still in the evening. All in all, it was a much better run and I am now getting to the 5th interval before having to start to dig deep.
Having run week 1 twice now, I can definitely see some progress and in hindsight I think given where I was starting from it was probably the best move, to ease into to it.
Let’s see what happens in week 2, I’m still not convinced even with the extra time that 6×90 secs is really doable.
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