The 16 Week Countdown Begins...

Monday: 16 weeks to the Great Manchester Run - the pressure is on! The weather was very good today, moderately cold and a good wind, dry morning, no rain in sight. I had bread for the duckies as usual, though some tried to fly towards me, which was a bit unnerving! I decided to do some stretching before my walking warm-up, for the sake of the problematic right calf, which felt better than expected. I was able to do 7 rounds of 4min run/1min walk, which really pleased me. I felt my stamina was higher, and I reluctantly admit that runners world were right to stress the importance of rest days. Today really felt less ache-filled, it was more fun and satisfying, which must be due to having two rest days. On reflection, I could have pushed myself harder to do 5 or 6min runs, with 1.5 or 2min walks, but I was very wary of my right calf still being tender. My runner mate suggests upping to 8mins quickly, which would be at odds with the advice runners world give, that I should stay with the 4min/1min ratio the whole week. This is something I will have to think about, how much I want to, or can, push myself. I am putting into practice the need for endurance over speed at this stage, I think I am really very slow right now, but that does not bother me, as I need to get myself to long periods of uninterrupted running before I focus on how fast I go. Today felt really good, especially when I went over 4mins without realising or staring at the stopwatch in desperation. A day like today, though it's so early in my training, made me feel I can do the Run, and right now, I don't care if I come last, because just finishing it would mean so much to me.