Changed my tactics from distance to time and it seems to have paid off – hills too!
I noted the training plan from Gipis and saw that it had me running a steady pace for all of the training but the only thing that changed was the length of time I would run so I decided to adopt this tactic. I did not use the app but decided to use the plan independently.
I have long since had a problem with mentally breaking km markers and thought this might help. Little did I know switching to the time view on my Tom Tom watch actually meant I didn’t see anything except the percentage of the target time completed.
This was brilliant as I had no idea how fast I was running nor how far I had gone.
I changed my route and also added in the hills which meant today was left to chance.
It felt quite liberating once I got used to it and instead of ducking out or allowing around 3K I simply continued – mainly as I had no idea how far I had run.
I started to use the percentage counter to my advantage and was running with it rather than against it.
Turns out I ran a total of 4.6KM which is the longest I have run in a while. Plus it was hills. Plus I did not stop for the entire duration.
I listened to my feet (which were actually very numb by the end) and my chest and simply eased off when I felt I needed to but to be honest I think I was fairly consistent throughout.
No walk sections at all. 😃
The weather may have helped a little as it was warmer and sunnier (you can see from the sun behind the trees in the main photo), than Fridays run which does make a difference but to be honest I tried not to let any external factors dictate this run.
I shall look up a little more about the set up of the Tom Tom and the timing for my next run but I will continue with this routine as I believe it gives an advantage. Instead of picking distance or a place to stop, I simply run until the clock tells me to stop (or my body of course).
This should put me in a good position for the Global 5K 😃
Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone, I think after lunch I may have a quiet five minutes in the garden in the sun.
Keith Tomlinson Photography 