Yesterday was my first official training run for the slightly dreaded 10k that I am running.

As I had downloaded a training app (yes I have an app addiction…shhh) I decided I would use it, and that I would do exactly what it said with regards to when to run and when I walk etc.

This app is designed to take people from no running experience at all to 10k in 14 weeks. I have running experience, and I only have 11 weeks until my 10k so I decided to start on week 4. This was a bad decision.

It turns out I underestimated my running ability!

This was the pattern of the run.

I thought it might be slightly easier than I was used to…but it was silly… it turned out that in the whole run I only ran 14 mins and walked the rest.

I did my best to run when told and walk when told but I confess I did run a bit in the warm up because I had been walking backwards and forwards to the changing room etc before I started and I skipped half of the cool down because the last 2 min walk interval runs directly into the cool down which was 7 mins walking…too much walking.  I finished the run feeling like I had been on a brisk walk with a bit of running in it and that I kept having to stop just as I was getting going!

You may be wondering why I didn’t just abandon the app and do my own thing…well I need to follow a training plan to improve for this 10k and I think I will benefit from doing it in a structured way. So I need to get used to following the interval instructions and sticking to the structure. I have to say I found it weird. I both liked it because there was a plan, and hated it because I was constantly wondering how far into the interval I was. I was also worrying a little about whether the 3 apps I had going were going to interact ok. They did so that is one less thing to worry about…

Wait hang on (I hear you cry) 3 apps? Well yes…

It turns out this new app doesn’t give you any gps data or info on speed or distance, so I used Strava as well. And of course I had to have the zombies…The story is getting interesting and my little town needs upgrading!

(yes I know I just started a sentence with And which would get me thrown out of the grammar pedants union…of course there is one… don’t kill me, it just made sense this once!)

<—- look…it is quite amazing how much less data you get out of this app than the Strava app!! This is quite disappointing considering the 10k app was a paid for app and the Strava one was free!

It is also pretty easy to see that both my speed and distance are down on my previous runs.

I think I will move on a week or two, I need structure and intervals but I would like to be going for longer than half an hour really. SO I will either jump ahead again, or I will investigate to see if there are more apps out there which will provide me with more data!

It was a worthwhile thing to do mind you because I have learned a couple of things:
1) as I have already said, I am better than I thought which takes away a tiny bit of fear about the 10k! (only a tiny bit)
b) I can get used to running with structure again
iii) I decided that I did like running in my stripey socks…

loook more stripey socks!!

So with some lessons learned…

Day 235 Complete 😀