Learning lessons...

... the hard way!

Running is not my only hobby.  I also like to knit.  Jumpers for Al, cardigans for my sis, and sometimes even something for me!  Now you may be excused for wondering how on earth I am going to find a link between these two rather disparate pastimes, and until recently I would have probably said that there wasn't one, but guess what?! I've found it!

I am as impatient with one as I am with the other!

Knitting isn't difficult but it does require patience and (as is becoming increasingly apparent) the discipline to stop every once in a while to check that you have the correct number of stitches and you're on the row you thought you were on.  Mine has gone wrong.

Happily knitting away in front of the tele I became complacent, instead of stopping to make those checks I carried on regardless and lo and behold I've made a mistake.  I have now had to find it, pull the work back, correct it and knit it all the way back up again to where I was in the first place.

I think this is how I run.

If last week was the perfect running weather. This morning wasn't.  Thankfully the rain stopped and we even managed some sunshine, but the wind was strong.  My Garmin's battery ran out before I started so, with no way of checking my pace, all I could do was run -my attention solely on the finishing line and my desire to beat last week's time.

I ran a good race and was happy with it, although it had felt a lot harder than last week, but I assumed this was because I was running so much faster.

The times when they came in told a different story... it would appear that, like my knitting, my run had gone wrong!  Why? Because I didn't stop to take note of the conditions or the feedback from my body during the race.  Running into a headwind on the downhill stretch is NEVER going to make me faster, running with legs that feel like lead are not going to whisk me along to personal best glory.  What I should have done, and perhaps this comes with experience (and/or a change in personality?), is to accept that given the weather and my tired legs I was not going to better last week's time today.  I should have made those checks and corresponding adjustments as I went along and settled into a nice steady pace instead of pushing on, risking injury and having to take things back a stage, only to build them up to where I was before.

You see, same same!

I am however pleased to report that I was not alone! Some of my fellow parkrunners fell into the same trap and were equally disappointed with the results!  But in response to my friend's post on FB a friend of hers wrote the following...

"With the wind that's blowing a howling gale around here, it would be like resistance training running into that today"

Resistance Training - and I still ran 24.15 Whoooo hoooo!!! It's all a matter of perspective!

M - 731
Distance covered                3 miles
Total distance covered   73.2 miles