And we're off!

I ran today!

First run of 2017, finally off the mark!

I have continued with all the other exercise stuff, however as often happens in winter, I stopped running for over two months in the end.  A combination of being very busy, weather, and not wanting to go running in the dark.  I could have found time for it if I really wanted to, I know that, however if something has to give on the exercise front, for me these days it is running that I ditch in place of a gym session!

The good thing is that because I am doing so much other exercise, when I do go running now even after a long break, it still feels ok.  In fact today, it felt really good!  I set off with the intention of running an out-and-back two miles around GPK, because it is quiet, has streetlights and is flat, making it a nice easy re-introduction.  I also deliberately held back the pace, despite the best efforts of my legs to keep speeding up!  I ran at a speed that was comfortable for my lungs so that I never felt like it was a struggle.  As soon as my garmin beeped at a mile, I turned around to jog back feeling strong and fighting the urge to just keep going and make it a 5k, as I know that doing too much too soon is usually counter-productive.  When I got back to the office, Pete wasn't there yet (we were car-sharing so I was waiting for him to arrive to pick me up) so I continued a little trail around the car park (up a ramp, round in circles, down a ramp, dodging colleagues on their way home, round in an even bigger circle, etc. etc!) until I finally decided enough was enough and stopped - final distance 2.67 miles.

Really pleased with that!  Even happier when I looked at the pace and it was an average of 10.09 minutes per mile.  Not bad at all for an easy comfortable run!  In fact a year ago, that sort of pace would have been me going full pelt!

The plan now is to run once a week, slowly increasing the distance to get ready for my first 10k of the year, which will be the same as last year - the Royal Berks 10k in May.  I'd also like to find a few more races to enter over the summer to keep the momentum up.

Anyone reading this racing 5k or 10k, and want to send me some recommendations?!