I have been pondering all day if I should push to do 5 miles or just settle for 4.5 miles or even do another 4 miles. What has not helped today is that I have had a pain just above the ankle (inside of the leg) for the last couple of days and to top that off I did not sleep very well last night.
When I got home I thought ‘sod it… I am going to set the Garmin for a 5 mile run, so I will have to do it’. I have opened the windows for some ventilation and to keep the room as cool as I can get it, I have filled up my bottle with water, found some running music on the iPod that lasts an hour and set the Garmin ready to start the workout.
I found the 5 minute warm-up walk went by very quickly as I was still wondering if I was being too ambitious running for 5 miles, this is going to take 50 minutes which will be the most I have every done. Up to now I have run 40 minutes twice and found it not too bad, but would I find the extra 10 minutes a bit too much?
The Garmin beeped a few times and then vibrated to let me know that it is time to run. I settled down in to the run after a few minutes and tried to loose myself in the music to stop me thinking of the task I have set myself.
When I had been running for 25 minutes, I did a check in the mirror at how my feet where landing and then checked to see how tired I was looking. I was surprised that I was still looking reasonably fresh. I had a flick through the Garmin to check the heart rate, I was a steady 160 bpm. I was fairly happy at this point and thought that I might just complete the 5 mile target.
After a further 15 minutes I had a quick check, similar to the previous check. I had now got to the 4 mile point and had been running for 40 minutes. I have been at this point twice before so anything more is new territory for me and a personal best.
I tried to forget how far I had run and kept focused on staying calm and keeping the breathing as steady as I could. I checked the Garmin and found that my heart rate was now at 170 bpm. I also started to check the countdown on the mileage, I was nearly there, just a few tenths of a mile to go.
The beeping started followed by the vibration from the Garmin, this was to tell me it was time to slow down for the cool-down walk. I had done it, a full 5 mile run that took just under 48 minutes. I have never in my life run that far or run for that amount of time. It did not seem to take very long for the cool-down walk to be over, but I suppose I had a lot on my mind at that point with the achievement that I had just done.
I was very pleased that I had accomplished the 5 mile goal, but thought ‘now that I have done it once, I will have to do it again next week’.
I now plan to have a day rest followed by a 5k run on Wednesday and Thursday, then repeat this next week. My next goal would be to achieve a 10k before I go on holiday in June, I will have to wait and see how I am in the next 2-3 weeks.
Garmin Connect
Treadmill - 5min-5mile-5min
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