Week 5 Day 2

Weather - Wet and windy, 12 degrees C, Wind westerly 7mph
Time - 5.30am

Before I get to the meat of today's post, I just want to take a brief moment to pat myself on the back for a month of sustained and consistent effort, which has led to a 16lb weight loss in roughly four weeks. That leaves me with only 14lbs to go to reach my first interim target, and it makes me feel very good.

As for the running...

I felt pretty positive, despite the ubiquitous rain, and, surprisingly, I really enjoyed the first eight-minute interval. I was bouncing along listening to the Ullrey podcast and didn't even feel unhappy when he told the Day 1 crowd that they could start walking. All very lovely. In fact my only difficulty was that I felt I was going too fast, but I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't want to tinker with anything. I really wished I had, because the second interval bit me squarely in the behind.

I genuinely thought I had slowed down for the second interval (Garmin disagrees), and I was plodding along steadily until about two minutes from the end. It felt like someone had kicked the wind right out of me and I was back to looking at the floor, hoping for a finish-line to appear. I inwardly rejoiced when I heard Ullrey's voice only to discover, to my absolute horror and disbelief, that he was calling 20 minutes for the Day 3 session and that I still had a minute to go! I very nearly cried. It was like Week 4 Day 1 all over again, without the cold, and I had to just resolve not to stop, not to quit, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I'm not sure how I managed it...but I did. And that is the marvelous thing, I did it. I now know that when I push myself to these extremes I can do it, and, what is more, I come back stronger.

Had there been anyone around I'm sure I'd have made quite a sight at the end of this run. I just remember saying out loud, over and over, "You didn't quit!  You didn't quit!", just to reinforce how tough it was, and how tough I was to get through it.

I've decided to get the heart rate monitor strap for the Garmin to see if that can help me to control my pace. It should arrive today so that I'll have time to get two morning resting heart rate measurements before my next run. Bring on Day 3.

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