The plan today was 3 runs a day… but right away (again) I decided the morning run was aff. But the lunchtime run was on, and the evening one (with Fit Girl) was on too.

Before you ask – why 3 runs a day? The Thunder Run 24 is why. In 3 weeks time, I’ll be part of a team of 7 (or 8) of us (called the Reluctant Runners again) , running a 6 mile loop as many times as we can in 24 hours. It’s very challenging, sort of nasty, but sort of fun too.

I did it last year (with the same team, me only knowing my Twinnie from work) and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. This time hopefully it’ll be a big easier?! I’m building my endurance with long runs, and the repetitive nature of it, with 2-3 runs a day, 1 day a week.

So today, I went out at lunchtime, and felt good. Running on my own, listening to the Foo Fighters, the first mile maybe ticked off a bit too fast, but I felt good, a bit like I was floating. Then I kept it nice and steady / easy for the first 5 miles or so. Keeping my Avg HR around 150 ish.

My avg HR ended up being 154, with a fast finish on the last mile, pushing it up to 178. (Ouch). Garmin Training Effect 4.0, and my Garmin told me to take 36 hours rest after it.

Here are my splits for a pretty average HR (154) (apart from at the end). Pretty steady. A few spits and spots of rain, but the weather was ok. And what I was wearing (shorts t shirt gillet) was maybe a bit too much, but ok.

I went back to work and showered, and got back to work, got a few things done. And before I knew it I was leaving at 6pm. A 9-6 day instead of a 930-530 day.

I was walking home, feeling a little bit down in the dumps (ie tired probably!), but if arranged to run my second run with Fit Girl, and run it I did. Just after 6pm.

It was really hot: hotter than at lunchtime. I had a feeling this would be a harder run. We did a similar route to the one I did at lunchtime, only there was more traffic, and we were chatting away.

Before I knew it we were 5 miles in, and instead of the strong fast last mile finish at lunchtime, I was feeling a little drained instead. So I (felt like I) slowed down. Fit girl went ahead, happy as Larry, running along. More and more space opened up between us, but I didn’t mind.

I added on a little loop to make it up to 10k, and finished with my HR on average, 151. Max 161. So my avg HR was just 3 beats lower, but the run earlier in the day (and the heat), had maybe taken it out of me.

Garmin training effect 3.6 and rest time 36 hours.

I still find it funny how two runs that could be so similar (ie route), can seem so different:

Time of day
Temperature
Clothes
Heart rate
Pace
Who you’re running with
Music
How much you’ve trained / rest recently

I came home to this rainbow, which made it all nice and shiny and worthwhile. 🙂

Now my next run is tomorrow (Thursday) at 7am with my Twinnie.

I’m not sure how far it’ll be tomorrow, but the runs will have been: 1pm, 6pm, 7am, so not too unlike how they’ll be on the day.

Eeeeek! I wonder if I’ll manage 3 runs a day – NEXT week?!