This is the conversation I had with my legs two days after my first run in 31 days:
Me: How you doing down there?
Legs: WE HATE YOU.
Me: Aw, you’re bound to be a little rusty and you were kind of slow, but that’s to be expected.
Legs: HATE. YOU.
Me: Pfft, it’s not that bad.
Legs: You remember those upper thigh muscles? I’m betting you do now because they are as stiff as roadkill at the North Pole.
Me: I’m pretty sure there are no roads or roadkill at the North Pole.
So yes, my legs were quite siff but today they were feeling a lot more limber so off I went on my second 5k run, my only real goal to improve on the sluggish time three days ago. Success!
With a light breeze, mild temperatures and a partly sunny sky I was able to shave 11 seconds off my average pace, bringing it from 5:45 down to 5:33. This is still pretty slow but it’s moving in the right direction. I again had a major drop-off at the 2km mark but it leveled off much more smoothly after that. The legs protested but not in a painful way, just in that “we’re not used to being exercised” way.
Another comparison table:
Distance | June 4th | June 1st | April 30th |
---|---|---|---|
1 km | 5:07 | 5:03 | 5:03 |
2 km | 5:20 | 5:21 | 5:06 |
3 km | 5:27 | 5:33 | 5:09 |
4 km | 5:31 | 5:40 | 5:12 |
5 km | 5:34 | 5:45 | 5:16 |