Running Pre-Night Out

Friday: A dry and cold morning, I was eager to improve on yesterday's run which barely made it over 20mins. The legs had been aching all night, and this morning, the right calf and knee were very painful. Thankfully, applying lots of gel does a good job of numbing the feeling and I applied it generously. I took Lucozade with me to drink during the run, knowing the body feels slow after the cold. It was a conscious decision to try to slow my pace down, to control it to keep the focus on endurance. The run felt good but was troubled by my right side, which I am worried is caused by my sports bra. Its shape is such that it presses into the ribcage and I wonder if it feels tight due to my body swelling and expanding temporarily from running. Apart from that, the legs felt fine, thanks to the gel. I covered 3.94km in 27mins 33secs, not hitting the 30mins I wanted, but that was due to running too fast, perhaps. It's hard slowing down, I underestimate how hard sometime. But I felt good today, getting over 25mins was important to me. Also, I had a night out planned, dinner at Nando's, which had me in a good mood. The company was great, as was the dinner - I chose the grilled chicken, sweet potato mash and mushroom side. I dithered over eating the mash, wondering if I should avoid it for training reasons. This is a real turnaround in my way of thinking; I got to the size I am by not worrying about food and just enjoying it, no matter how 'bad' it was. As I was looking at the menu, I realised how much running means to me, to have changed the way I look at food and my health, for the better. Dinner was delicious, as it always is there, and accompanied by countless pint glasses of Coke (well, we can't be wise all the time...). Rare for me, I chose not to have dessert, I was full and enjoying my Cokes, so no need. A very enjoyable night out, it felt like a real treat after my first race, and it was timed far enough away from my next race to avoid any guilt about what I had to eat and drink. Tomorrow will be another running day: a short and easy jog, planned to allow me to get some light training in, and nothing too heavy, because I plan on a long run on Sunday. I have missed long runs that were necessary for the 10km, due to me not looking at the programme for weeks, so this Sunday is very important. A lot is riding on that training session for me - a week after, it's the race, and I need that boost of confidence, to know I can run 10km non stop. It's the 'non stop' issue that worries me, I don't want to walk any part of the race; endurance has to come before speed, I keep reminding myself.