Good morning. As always, I hope that whoever takes the time to read this review of the second week of my Couch to 5k training had an amazing weekend. If it wasn’t amazing, I hope that it was at least more interesting than my weekend. After the excitement of the previous weekend, the weekend just gone was pretty mundane and I spent far too much time in what Geoff used to call self-pitying mode. This weekend will be better and not just because it’s the Spring bank holiday.

The NHS Live Well website provided the following information about the interval sessions in Week 2 of the Couch to 5k training plan.

As I didn’t want to shorten the final 2 minute walk interval, I decided to aim to complete six repetitions of 90 seconds of running followed by 2 minutes of walking. This made each interval session 21 minutes rather than 20 minutes long.

I supplemented the three Couch to 5k interval sessions with a couple of cross training sessions and a couple of rest days. Each interval session started with a 5 minute warm-up and ended with a 5 minute cool down. Cross training sessions comprised of 30 minute training sessions on my exercise bike. As I want to actually complete the Couch to 5k this time, I spent at least 30 minutes a day to strength and conditioning.

Monday – 30 mins cross training

I’m clearly not used to interacting with lots of people as I ended the weekend feeling tired and I somehow managed to sleep through my Monday morning alarm. This meant that I started the week in a slightly negative frame of mind as I hate starting work late. In theory, I don’t have to start work until 10am; however, I always aim to start work at 8am so that I can finish before 5pm.

I’m not sure that anyone needs to read a day in the life of a grumpy hydrologist post, so I’ll fast forward to 5pm when I finished work. Like last week, as soon as I finished work I got changed, found myself a suitable Bike the World video on YouTube, warmed up and then got on my exercise bike.

Approximately halfway through my exercise bike session, I paused the YouTube video I’d been watching so that I could grab a glass of water. I’m clearly not a very dedicated cyclist as I decided to check my emails and twitter.

Well here is some exciting news…. BCC have given us permission to restart again on the 5th June.

Thank you BCC….. we've always said how amazing you all are 🙂

Before you get too excited though…… there is another very big hurdle we need to ge… https://t.co/f9EWg9MzRP

— Sutton Park parkrun (@SPparkrun) May 17, 2021

Birmingham City Council had given Sutton Park parkrun permission to restart on June 5^th. This amazing, and if I’m being honest, unexpected news, injected some energy into the second half of my exercise bike session, and I had to remind myself to slow down.

By my poor standards, the remainder of my Monday was reasonably productive. I caught up on some life admin, booked a table for lunch at Bistrot Pierre on Saturday, and ate a few too many unhealthy snacks when my Ocado order was delivered. Like last week, as I didn’t want to spend most of my time staring at my left wrist, I uploaded something resembling the Week 2 Couch to 5k interval sessions onto my Garmin.

Tuesday – 21 mins intervals (run 90 secs/walk 2 mins x 6)

I’m not sure why, but I woke up just before my 5am alarm. Although with hindsight I would have benefitted from getting a few more minutes sleep, waking up naturally meant that I didn’t feel like I was sleep running around Four Oaks.

The first interval session of the second week of the Couch to 5k felt amazing. I found running for 90 seconds easy and actually felt that I could have carried on running when I reached the end of the first three run intervals. I then made my usual mistake of speeding up and getting too confident. My poor pacing meant that I struggled during the final three 90 second intervals and was reminded of the importance of running at a sensible and sustainable pace. I doubt that I’ll get away with these basic pacing errors when I get to the more challenging weeks of the Couch to 5k.

After completing my cool down walk which thanks to the rain was slightly more cooling than I would have liked, I took another selection of dodgy photos, walked home, stretched, had a cup of tea, shared my post run thoughts on Instagram and then headed back to bed for an hour or so.

The interval session ended up being the highlight of the day. I’m not sure why, but my colleagues seem to love scheduling meetings and training sessions on Tuesdays. One meeting committed the ultimate crime of eating – apologies for the terrible pun – into my lunch break.

Wednesday – Rest

As this weekly update is already in danger of turning into an essay, I won’t describe my rest day in a lot of detail. Work was busy and thanks to some IT-related issues was a little stressful. A walk in the torrential rain after work meant that I got some much-needed fresh air and also did wonders for my mental health.

Thursday – 21 mins intervals (run 90 secs/walk 2 mins x 6)

Once again, I woke up a couple of minutes before my 5am alarm. Following the success of my interval session on Tuesday, I decided to follow the same route which by Four Oaks standards is flat and quiet.

I’m so predictable. During the first three run intervals I managed to maintain a sensible pace and running felt comfortable. During the final three run intervals I automatically increased my pace and running felt anything but comfortable. Although I was lucky as my left knee didn’t niggle during and after the interval session, I think it’s very much a case of slow down and be sensible or risk getting injured again.

Looking back, spending several minutes trying to capture a half decent post interval session photo was always going to end in embarrassment. At least the dog walker who spotted me taking this photo was friendly and said hello.

I walked home, made myself a cup of tea, posted a quick update on Instagram, worked through my strength and conditioning exercises and then headed back to bed to for an hour.

This probably isn’t a good sign, but for the second time in three days, my interval session ended up being the highlight of my day. Much as I do enjoy my new job, I’m finding working with people I’ve never met quite stressful. Since the start of the year I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about working and living in Wallingford.

Friday – Rest

Friday was a day of updates on social media; one was predictable and one came completely out of the blue. The update from parkrun UK in the morning was disappointing but not at all unexpected.

Today we're announcing a delay to the planned reopening of 5k events in England on Saturday 5 June.

Read the full press release here

👉 https://t.co/lWblThaPOL

🌳 #loveparkrun pic.twitter.com/a39Jl37EBz

— parkrun UK (@parkrunUK) May 21, 2021

I’m feeling reasonably confident that parkrun will be back on June 26^th. I can’t wait to feel like I’m part of the Sutton Park parkrun community again and to volunteer.

The update from Wolves a couple of hours later was both disappointing and completely unexpected.

After four seasons at the club, this Sunday will be Nuno Espirito Santo’s final game in charge of Wolves.

Thank you, Nuno.

🐺

— Wolves (@Wolves) May 21, 2021

I know that football is only a game and that managers come and go all of the time. I know that Wolves had a poor season. I know that quite a few people – I can’t call them supporters – wanted Nuno to be sacked. I’m not ashamed to admit that I shed a tear when I read the announcement about Nuno.

Saturday – 30 mins cross training

As I’m trying to protect my left knee and I’m not convinced that my exercise bike is designed for people with longer than average legs, I decided to substitute my exercise bike session with a 30 minute power walk. My route took me past my favourite pub – I’ll hopefully find someone to join me for a drink soon – and a group of people taking part in what looked like an organised litter picking event.

The rest of my Saturday was so mundane I won’t bore you to tears with the details. If you know someone who is single and who lives alone, please send them a quick text. I can guarantee that it will make their day.

Sunday – 21 mins intervals (run 90 secs/walk 2 mins x 6)

I’d set my alarm for 5:30am so I was a little frustrated when I woke up just before 5am again. I managed to get back to sleep and felt somewhat disorientated when my alarm woke me 30 minutes later.

I decided to stick to my usual route around some reasonably flat residential roads as although the Nature Reserve route is a lot more scenic, it’s also more undulating and less knee friendly. I don’t want to sound like a broken record but after a sensible first three running intervals, I started to speed up again and struggled to complete the final two run intervals as I was running at a pace I couldn’t maintain. Fortunately for this not very good at pacing herself runner, the run intervals in week 2 of the Couch to 5k only lasted 90 seconds. If the final interval had lasted for longer than 90 seconds, I can guarantee that I would have ended up walking.

The rest of my Sunday was uneventful and went something like this; nap, walk before lunch, another nap, Wolves, blog writing, weekly takeaway from my local Chinese, more blog writing, Chicago Fire, Station 19, reading, preparation for the week ahead, and then bed. I’ll leave you with a photo I took during my pre-lunch walk.

The third week of the Couch to 5k training plan I’m following looks straightforward and achievable. I’m feeling reasonably confident I’ll be able to run for 3 minutes at a time. I’m aware that I’m repeating myself but I need to remember to run at a sensible pace that I can maintain.

Training totals

• Runs: 6 (out of 6)
• Time: 2 hrs 3 mins
• Distance: 10.01 miles

Niggleometer

• Right knee: 2/10
• Left knee: 4/10
• Right foot: 2/10

Did you have a good weekend? Did you do anything exciting or are you still in semi-lockdown mode like I am?

Do you have any tips for slowing down and running at a sensible pace? I’m aware that if I don’t slow down then I will get injured. Hopefully the longer run intervals will force me to slow down!

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