A late afternoon run today as temperatures are cooler now. Under hazy cloud, intermittent sun and 17ºC, I ran with the wind, against the wind and at one point mildly cursing the wind.
That one point was when the wind actually blew my cap right off my head. I snatched it out of the air with ninja-like reflexes and put it back on without breaking my stride. That was probably the highlight of my run. The other was the opening km, one of my fastest yet at 4:54/km — and that was without really trying at it. Such things encourage me.
It had been a week since my last run because my left shin had been feeling a bit tender and I wanted to give it a little time. While I could feel it today it didn’t hurt, had no impact on my time and felt fine afterward. A much larger impact was mid-run when I first got a cramp in my lower abdomen and then some minutes later another in my chest. These always have the same effect — they restrict how much air you can inhale and that inevitably slows me down. The averages during this part of the run, with 4 seconds between km, demonstrates the effect vividly.
My iPod cable proved to be vexing. I could not get it to stay tucked in my left pocket like normal and eventually just gave up, letting it swing all over, pretending it wasn’t really distracting me. I think I’ll finally use a velcro strip to cinch it up to the right length for the next run.
Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):
| km | Aug 29 | Aug 22 | Aug 19 | Aug 11 | Aug 7 | Aug 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 4:54 | 4:59 | 5:02 | 5:07 | 5:04 | 5:02 |
| 2 km | 5:03 | 5:03 | 5:04 | 5:09 | 5:08 | 5:08 |
| 3 km | 5:09 | 5:08 | 5:08 | 5:13 | 5:12 | 5:15 |
| 4 km | 5:13 | 5:13 | 5:12 | 5:16 | 5:16 | 5:19 |
| 5 km | 5:17 | 5:16 | 5:15 | 5:18 | 5:19 | 5:23 |
| 6 km | 5:21 | 5:20 | 5:18 | 5:20 | 5:21 | 5:26 |
| 7 km | 5:23 | 5:24 | 5:21 | 5:22 | 5:23 | 5:29 |
| 8 km | 5:26 | 5:27 | 5:23 | 5:24 | 5:26 | 5:32 |
| 9 km | 5:28 | 5:30 | 5:24 | 5:26 | 5:27 | 5:35 |
| 10 km | 5:29 | 5:33 | 5:23 | 5:26 | 5:27 | 5:37 |
