Week in Review:
As I am trying to get into the habit of running after work, on Monday I was out running before dinner. Unfortunately, it was still 34*C outside and the run was a true test. I was very hot, dehydrated and ready to stop at any moment. I was ready to finish the session at the 20 minute mark, however, I managed to mentally take hold of the situation and pushed myself right to 5kms!
I set myself 'mini-goals' of distances or times. When I reached these goals I willed myself to go that extra bit further. My jogging was slow and I was gasping because of the heat, but I made it. No other run can match this and now when I ever feel like stopping, I will remind myself of this run and how I made it.
Wednesday I was a bit naughty. I took the day off work to run (amongst other lazy reasons). Hehe. Instead of having 1km distance prompts, I changed the GPS to only prompt me when I reached 2.5kms. This was a great decision. I was jogging continuously with no mental thoughts of "Oh no, I have this long to go..." slowing my pace. Instead, I was running to one end of the path, turning around and heading back.
And then my next run was a few days (!) later, on Sunday morning. This time, however, the temperature had dropped down to the early 20s and this made a world of difference to my session. I ran my fastest time yet and when I arrived home I wasn't even tired. It was like I hadn't even gone and done a 5km jog! I never knew that temperature had such a dramatic effect. I thought I was taking longer than others to reach the 5kms in 30mins because of only my (lack of) ability! No, it is the Australian heat that has been testing me!
I was told (after this successful session) that as I have been training in the heat in summer (and pushing myself), my winter runs will be much easier and I will get through them with much more success.
Woo hoo! I can't wait to finally conquer this pace/distance.
I must get back into a routine of days when I run, at the moment it is a little bit all over the place and the weeks are not flowing onto each other evenly.
Day 1 (Monday evening): 5.0kms, 34mins, 6:48mins/km
Day 2 (Wednesday morning): 5.02kms, 32:57mins, 6:38mins/km
Day 3 (Sunday morning): 5.00kms, 31:45mins, 6:22mins/km
