Russell Turner | Happily Ever After

Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

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Problems With Pace

by Russell Turner - 21:39 on 08 November 2017

There’s snow on the ben, and this morning the wind brought the ‘feels like’ temperature down to just above freezing, but the good news was that following my promise to Cathy the Runner I had only 22 minutes of athletic endeavour to perform after a brisk five-minute walk to my start point. And still in shorts.

Week five of the couch to 5k began with two lots of nine-minute runs plus two two-minute walks – something I was a touch nervous about because nine minutes sounds a lot at my current fitness level. In the event, I completed both with my usual heavy breathing but little trouble.

Examination of my Garmin stats revealed that my speed had increased markedly. I blame the cold. This should sound like good news but probably isn’t because it means I still have no idea how to pace myself, which is why I’ve delved into the world of clip-on runners’ metronomes (most of which seem to be appropriated from musicians).

Matchgirl has one (of course) but unused and languishing in The Chamber of Discarded Running Gear, from where I disinterred it for inspection. Although a battery seems to be all it needs to become active, I’m inclined to buy a new metronome – a Seiko DM50S, if you’re curious – because it tops all the reviews and costs only £18.49. I guess that Matchgirl the Gadget Queen has moved on to a metronome app.

Despite the short run, and performing all my before and after stretches, I learned that running and Chatterbox don’t mix well. Much stiffness was discovered when I rose from the computer chair late this afternoon, where I’d been seated hard at work for several hours. More computer breaks will be taken in future. The learning curve keeps climbing.

Comment from BikerMike at 06:45 on 09 November 2017.

All day at computer? Get up once an hour and walk around. If like me, endless cups of coffee/tea. Then you get into bladder issues which tend to make you get up to spend a few pennies! :-)

Comment from Russell at 08:19 on 09 November 2017.

The National Union of Journalists would be disgusted with my work ethic but when you're alone and the work's going well its easy to forget to move.

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