Once again a very busy work week with some traveling that forced me to swap the training days around. I assume that there isn't anything wrong with that and I'm pleased that I had the opportunity to get all of the scheduled running done.
When traveling I brought my mp3 player and listened back to The Extra Mile Podcast - Galloway Edition. I listened to the episodes that covers the first weeks of the program in hope of learning more about how to train. One thing that came very clear is that I am running my long runs too fast. I should probably slow down at least 1 minute/km or even 1:30/km and I also ought to run a 2/1 ratio instead of the 3/1 that I'm currently doing.
So for the Sunday long run of 17.7km/11miles, according to the plan, I tried to slow down but... read more about it below.
Wednesday: After a terrible day at work it was so good to be running in the forest. The weather was perfect, the scenery was breathtaking, the air was filled with birdsong and after just a little while all the negative thoughts and the stress that I brought home from work just disappeared. I'm very lucky to be able to run and to have the environment that I enjoy so much nearby. This run was, beside the training, therapy for a stressed mind.
Friday: As I started the run I felt good and strong and I begun to wonder what would happen if I skipped the walk breaks. I haven't run without walk breaks for a long time so I got curious to find out if I was strong enough to run 5kms without them. I didn't turn my Gymboss off, I just ignored the vibrating signals and kept running. Around 1½ - 2 kms into the run I still felt good and strong and my curiosity changed focus. Now I begun to wonder how fast I could run 5kms without walk breaks. So I turned the run into a race and speeded up a little. I'm aware that running the way I did isn't described in the Galloway program but there is the opportunity of doing fartleks or speed play runs so let's consider this run as that. I ended up a little more tired than usual but very pleased with my performance. I finished the 5k in 26:29.
Sunday: For my long run I was determined to slow down and my aim was to run a pace of 7:30/km or so in order to follow the Galloway program more strict. I didn't dare to change the run/walk ratio as I now am so used to the 3/1 that I would probably get very confused not run/walking the 3/1. But, I really tried to run slower but I didn't feel comfortable and my running didn't feel natural so I gave up and just ran the way that felt right. I didn't pay too much attention to the pace or to the Garmin but only ran to feel good. I did pay attention to my breathing since Mr Galloway strongly forbids huffing and puffing on a long run. I might have huffed once or twice going uphill but not a single puff was heard during the entire run so I think I might get away with running faster than stipulated in the program.
All in all a great running week with a total distance of 31,3km/19.4miles.
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