A Good Way to End the (Mid) Week...

Finally I'm getting somewhere!

5km this morning in 24 minutes. Nothing to open a new crate of James Squires over but a noticeable improvement. It equates to sub-72 minutes for City to Surf.

For the first time since I started training, I felt like my long legs were being put to good use. Nice long strides on the flat and downhill stretches.

I was gasping by the time I finished, but I had pushed myself hard up the last stretch.

I have no doubt that if I maintained the steady pace through 4.5 to 5km then I'd have no problem in carrying on and therefore those longer runs don't seem so out of reach. I hope to put that theory to the test on Sunday.

It's clear to me that the 5km runs on Monday and Tuesday, followed by 2 days break (discounting squash on Wednesday) have put a little extra strength in my legs. I did read that it's the rest days allowing your body to recover and build that are most important.

So now I have 48 hours to recover before the next run on Sunday!

I love it when a plan comes together...

Set a long-term goal, start slowly, avoid injury, get into the habit, set an interim goal (5km, no walk), reward (new shoes), step up a gear (regular 5kms). So far so good!!

The next phase is...

Introduce longer runs at the weekend, slowly increase these toward race distance, lengthen the mid-week runs (maintaining 25-30 minutes).

Then...

Introduce track / hill intervals to get some speed and more strength in the legs.

We have a Public Holiday on Monday, so I'll have to assess whether I deserve a lie-in!