My Week in Runs

Easy Thursday

This was my first time to do an afternoon run. I was ready to head out at 4:00 pm but it was still a bit hot. I eventually started at 4:45 pm.  The plan for the day was to do an easy run for 1 hour and 20 minutes. I’ve decided to follow the route of the FitnessFirst Run for a Cause which should take me from FF to the National Research Institute then back to FF. I estimated that on my easy pace it would take me about an hour, then I will just run around High Street to complete the hour&20.

I felt great at the start of the run. There was a cool breeze and not a lot of smoke from the cars. If you take away the traffic (or even just the smoke belchers) running in the afternoon is really perfect for me. It’s fascinating to watch the sky turning from blue to red orange and then purple. Also, afternoon runs means I don’t have to wake up really early and try to run faster towards the end to complete the run before it gets hot. I finished the run strong and with a perfect excuse to have a BIG dinner. 

Speed Friday

With all the Christmas functions, I had to plan my runs carefully. I did my hamster speed work during my lunch break. I invested time to make a playlist to match the days program — 6×2min with 1 min jog recovery — so I don’t have to think of the splits and just run them. (Thanks Jette and James for your System of a Down albums. They really are great for speed runs) 

TheFortLong

Just thinking about running 18K makes me go cross-eyed. But we figured we’d be more confident for Subic as long as we have this long runs tucked in our muscle memory. Plus I needed to run off a lot of calories from Saturday.  

Mesh, Tin and I headed out at around 5pm. My diesel powered body took about 30 minutes to warm-up and wake up. I was zonked out for the first 30 minutes just trailing behind.  It didn’t help that my footpod decided to play hide-n-seek with me also so I was just going by my heart rate to monitor my pacing.  

This is our first time to run with our fuel belts … it wasn’t uncomfortable but takes getting used to. After a few minutes you get used to the sound of water sloshing around and you tune it out.

By Km 4 I was awake and began to enjoy the red orange sky and then ekk!!! Bats! (yep! there were a few bats but didnt mention it to them coz it might freak them out too. That’s why I didnt want to go around one more time at that loop).

The run felt long … well 18K is long … but still it took awhile to finish. Come to think of it … it might have felt long because we did not have a set route so we were keeping close watch on the actual time we’ve spent running rather than on the distance covered.

I really wasn’t prepared for this run, my playlist ran out and we still had about 7Ks to go. I bravely put it on shuffle. With about 1.5Ks to go my legs were killing me already … they felt like lead. As if trying to comfort me … my Ipod started playing …. Don’t give up on us, baby / Don’t make the wrong seem right / The future isn’t just one night / It’s written in the moonlight / Painted on the stars / We can’t change ours. (Yes! My Ipod has the strangest collection of songs … but very intuitive!)

Today I rest … for tomorrow I run again.