Progressive Overload

Distance: 2 miles
Time: 18m57s
Mile 1 - 9m22s
Mile 2 - 9m35s

At long long last, back out on the open road, er... pavement, today. Just a gentle 2-miler to get me back into things. Today is officially a day off, but then yesterday was officially a 65min run which I can't do on a Wednesday because of yoga. I try to stick to my 16-week plan as closely as I can, but need to be flexible to fit around other things. Like the weather. Grrrr.

Anyway, a gentle jog, as I said. It felt weird as it's been 3 weeks since I've been out for a lunchtime run. And it's been a couple of months now since I last did this 2-mile out-and-back run from Milton Park to Sutton Courtenay. It felt like it was dragging, and at 2½ minutes slower than my previous pace over this route, it was psychological as much as anything.

So not my best run, but it was supposed to be slow and gentle, so it was good in that respect. Especially since it's still flippin cold out there!

I may have done well on my 10 mile run on Monday, but it's not all about the weekly long run, it's about getting out there and building up the miles. Something I've been unable to do because of the bad spell of whether [sic]. It's key that I build up my running muscles through regular use. Tire them out, and rest them, as it's only on the rest day that they get stronger as the body repairs itself.

The fact is that the adaptive processes of the human body will only respond if continually called upon to exert a greater magnitude of force to meet higher physiological demands.