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.
Running Like A Pensioner
by Russell Turner - 14:24 on 01 August 2024
It’s nearly three weeks since the Race to the Stones; Matchgirl’s black eye is almost a memory. Since then I’ve walked a few walks and run a few easy 5ks, but today was my birthday – my first as a pensioner (not that I’ve seen any money yet) – so it demanded a challenge to prove that my body has not yet begun the inevitable descent into arthritic old age.
A distance challenge, three weeks after running 50k, was not going to happen, and a speedy 5k was equally unlikely, considering that I’ve yet to run one post-RTTS that hasn’t included walk breaks. The obvious target was a 1k or 1 mile PB – just a few minutes of all-out effort. How hard could that be?
Very hard, of course. As recently as yesterday I was uncertain whether I’d bother, and, if I did, whether I’d succeed. However, the day dawned not stupidly hot, with no wind, so there was no reason not to try.
I walked the brief uphill from The Rural Retreat along what had been the overgrown track beside the burn, recently flattened and widened by the passage of competitors in a pony club event. At the top, I took an easy trot into the straight stretch where I usually run my intervals, then run/walked to the end of a first kilometre where I tried a few strides. The next two kilometres were much the same.
Warmed up, I reached the start of the fourth kilometre at the spot where earlier this year I’d begun my previous 1k PB, hitting top speed straight away, a glance at the Garmin revealing a pace of 3:57 min/km – ridiculously fast, and after a minute I’d already begun to fade when I rounded the corner and began a (mild) descent. Some of the pace was regained in the third minute, then the gradient began to level and I did my best to hang on to what I’d got for the final minute. There was no chance of a finishing line spurt.
Fortunately, I didn’t need it. My kilometre was done in 4:18.9 – five seconds faster than the previous PB over the same kilometre (which includes 22m of descent but we can ignore that). In theory I could have pressed on and gone for the mile PB too, and might have if I’d failed over the kilometre, but claiming one PB left me unwilling to keep going. I’ll never be an Olympian.
I’ll take it easy again, now, and build up to the nine-week Oxford Half Marathon block which begins on the 12th, although seven gigs during August won’t help training. My target is sub-2 hours; breaking a 1:57 PB would be a bonus.
Add your comment
© Russell Turner 2008-2024