Another walk/run/shuffle successfully completed. The format was the same as last time; a five minute warmup walk, then eight one minute runs with one and a half minute recovery walks. then a five minute warm down walk. It felt a bit harder today for some reason. I could be that it is colder and generally more miserable than it has been. Because of that I put a pair of long (cycling) tights on as well as an extra layer on top. Also I went out after I came home from work rather than going out first thing in the morning as I did the previous two times. It could also be that I was running faster. Strava tells me that I covered an extra 150m compared to Monday. So that quite possibly explains it. It felt harder because I was working harder.
I also earned myself a determination badge. I suppose that it means that I didn’t give up after the first run.

The run also induced the beginnings of runner’s paranoia. This I believe, can be a very expensive disease to treat.

As I was running I was feeling a slight pain in my shins. This lead to thoughts along the lines of;
“Are my £50 Adidas cross-trainers providing adequate cushioning when I am running on the road?”
“Should I go out and buy myself a pair of proper running shoes?
“How much should I pay £100 – £150 – £200?”
“What is the best make?”
“I’ll Google it when I get home”
By the time I got home the paranoia had calmed down a bit, so I think I’ll stick with the £50  cross-trainers, at least for the time being.

Today was day two of my Couch to 5K adventure. Actually it was day three, but the app gives you a day off between runs (walk/run/walks) to get over the delayed onset muscle soreness, usually referred to as DOMS. This is necessary.

It upped the ante today. Day one was a five minute brisk walk as a warm up followed by six run/walk intervals consisting of a sixty second run followed by a ninety second recovery walk. The programme ended with a five minute warm down walk and stretches. Today they slipped in an extra couple of intervals. Other than having to extend my loop in the park to accommodate the extra distance I didn’t notice much difference, which is probably the idea.

So far the programme has been pretty good. The only thing I would like to change is the female voice prompt, who tells me when to start and stop running, which is fine. She unfortunately also says things in what I think is a Californian motivational accent, like “Keep going awesome runner!!!”, “You’re doing grrreat!!!” and “You’ve reached the halfway point fantastic!!!!!”. For me, it would probably work better if they had recruited an ex-sergeant-major to say thing like “Get your a*se into gear start running”, “I suppose your doing a little bit better than last time, but not much” or “OK you can have a rest – WALK – don’t just stop you lazy sod”.  From my perspective much more motivational.

Evidence if required is available on Strava.