Cranking Up A Gear

Tuesday: Kind weather again, a lot more runners out there, obviously in training. One ran past while I was walking to warm up, cheekily saying 'come on then', and later passed me as I was running, giving me a braod smile, which better have been in solidarity and not condescending! I was in two minds as to how long I should run for and was considering upping to 5 mins, from yesterday's 4mins. However, as I listened to the radio, 'Work' by Kelly Rowland (Freemasons Remix) came on and it felt a travesty not to run along to it. I ended up doing 8mins, which made me think I should keep aiming for that. So I ended up doing 5 rounds of 8min run/1min walk, which I felt rather pleased with. It was much more challenging than yesterday, but still doable, as long as I focused on the breathing and persevered through the aches. I find I need to cool down with longer walks now, to make sure my legs are okay. The right calf twinges a little but I think I have been sensible with it so far. I have tried to register with greattrainer.org to get a programme to follow for the Great Manchester Run, but they are not taking new members as the site is being updated. They apparently text reminders for running, something that would encourage me to stick to a plan. I hope to get a programme soon as I sometimes wonder if I am pushing myself hard enough. I was really tired today, sweating more (which I think is a great sign) and drank Lucozade at the end of the run, which tasted better than it had ever done. Today was a good day, it feels great to have managed to jump from 4min runs to 8min runs, and I do feel fitter as time goes on. Days like this make the Run feel more doable, more fun, less scary :o)