Week 1 of Rhi's road to 10k

Hiya. It me. I've come up with a really original title for this series of blogposts as you can see. It's so original that I think I have a desperate need to change it right this second but until I come up with something better... that's what you're gettin', pardner.

In three words, Week 1 of training was:

• windy
• cold
• sunny-and-kinda-awesome-at-the-end

Here's the rundown:

Day 1

Run stats

• Goal: A 20-30 minute 'easy' run
• Distance achieved: 2km
• Moving time: 14:57 (minutes:seconds)
• Pace: 7:27 / km

Thoughts: This first run could have gone a lot better. It also could have gone a lot worse. It turns out that, in February, when it's flipping cold and grey and windy outside, my body does not want to get out of bed on time to run leisurely like an organised individual, so I ended up:

1. scrambling around in my room trying to get a shift on, and
2. cutting this run short by 15 minutes in order to jump in the shower and arrive at work on time.

I also hesitate to call this a 'run', because while I was quite speedy at times, I also stopped to walk at least twice (spot the dips in the graph below). Yeah, that's right. IT'S SCIENCE TIME AND IT'S ONLY DAY ONE, OH YEAH.

Thanks to Strava for this beautiful mountainous diagram. As you can see, my pace is VERY consistent.

Day 2 (rest day)

Aside from work, I made hake stir fry, washed some towels and started the last season of Grace & Frankie. I was too lazy to go to the shops to buy eggs so I didn't make pancakes even though this was Pancake Day. I'm fully aware I am a disgrace.

I haven't decided whether I'm going to keep up writing about my rest days as this could get quite off topic. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. Hold on to your suspense boots.

Day 3

Run stats

• Goal: A 20-30 minute 'easy' run
• Distance achieved: 3.26km
• Moving time: 26:47
• Pace: 8:13 / km

Thoughts: I used the Easy Run guided audio run on the Nike Run App for this, and it worked a treat. I ran slow and easy and never ran out of breath or turned beetroot-coloured. A top tip I used for this run (and on every run I can) is to drink lots of water beforehand. That way, I don't get a painful stitch within the first five minutes.

Day 4 (rest day)

I'm tired and my hips hurt. Well, they did this morning, and I know it's because of my run. They're hyper-flexible, so they're tricky b*stards. Can anyone recommend some good post-run stretches for hips?

Day 5 (rest day)

Another normal-ish day of work. But I did end it in the V&A at the Kyoto to Catwalk exhibition, which was pretty cool.

Day 6 (meant to run today, didn't)

I woke up at 2pm, so y'know. I didn't go for a run in my sleep, if you catch my drift.

Day 7 (meant to be a rest day, actually became a run day)

Yesterday didn't go to plan, so I made up for it today. Big time. Here's the all important...

...run stats

• Goal: A 45 minute 'easy' run
• Distance achieved: 7.21km
• Moving time: 1:02:21
• Pace: 8:40 / km

Thoughts: Well, I was pretty psyched. I was a bit naughty, in a good way, because I ran for longer than I should have. 17 minutes longer. In total, I managed over 7km and this is my longest run to date - ever. Admittedly, I walked most of the hills (not all!), and was kinda slow. Especially when I got lost at the far end of the park. But my victory was helped along by that confusion in the end, as I just ran until I knew where I was! Which turned out to be the far end of Kentish Town.

there wasn't a floating left arrow, I just don't have the energy to crop this

Week 1 done. Here's to Week 2!

PS my hips hurt