The running this week has been a bit up and down. Last Friday, I went out and did 4.2 miles in 42 minutes. Then on Sunday I went out with my sister and we only did 3.2 miles, and it felt like we were hardly going above walking pace, but it turned out it only took us 36 minutes. I think it felt easier because we were running beside a canal and therefore it was very flat. On Tuesday I went out again to try to get to 4.9 miles, but had to stop after about 3 with some quite serious chest pains. It seemed like wind, but it wouldn’t shift unless I stopped running, so I had to walk the last mile and a half back. Thankfully, I managed to hit 4.9 miles yesterday, and did it in 49 minutes. According to my Garmin Forerunner 405, I was only 22 seconds behind 10 minutes per mile at the end of the run, which I’m pleased about.

I’m still on target for the 10km in terms of distance, that isn’t looking like it will be a problem. Here’s the distances I’ve run so far:

I need to try to increase my speed though, and apparently the best way to do that is with interval training. This sounds like some serious punishment, but in fairness, there’s a brilliant straight road near where I live where I can do this quite easily, using lamp-posts to measure out distances. It’s about a mile long and quite flat, so it’s perfect.

Aside from that, I collected my new bike yesterday. Been wanting to get a new one pretty much ever since I got my last one, which was when I was ill back in 2005. Psychologically, it’s always going to be connected with that time in my life, and I’d rather forget about that time, so a new bike was needed. Also, I don’t like mountain bikes, and I’ve gone back to a road bike. Decided to get a Specialized Secteur Triple, and it’s awesome. So light, and with flappy paddle gear shifters, which might take some getting used to. And the fact that the brakes are in a different place to the last road bike I had many years ago, that’ll also take some getting used to. Took it out for 2 minutes last night to make sure I could change gears, and this thing is fast. Going to head in to the bike shop tomorrow to pick up lights, and will ride in. Should be interesting to see what speeds I can get to on it.