My Training Plan: Week 6

My running training for this week is Week 6 from the Learn to Run 10K program.  The first session, which I did on Wednesday this week, was a real push over all of the previous sessions.  By far, this was the most difficult, the most exhausting, and required the most determination.  The run consisted of 5 minutes running followed by 1 minute walking and repeated 7 times.  Including the 5 minute warm-up and cool-down, the run was just over 8km in 50 minutes.

* from SportMedBC's Learn to Run 10K program.

For the first time in a long time, this run completely exhausted me.  I even had to stop and heave somewhere during my 6th interval.  It felt great to sweat hard and really have to push through and challenge myself.  The next couple of sessions for this week are a bit lighter, going back to 3 minute runs and 1 minute walks.  Some needed recovery.  I really enjoy that this program provides ups and downs: some runs are more challenging than others while others are intended as time to recover.

Overall, more and more, I find myself constantly looking forward to my next run.  I have to use restraint not to run every day (I know my body still needs time to recover).  I have prioritized my runs higher and higher on my list of things to do.  However, as my runs are getting longer, I find the biggest challenge is finding time for runs any longer than 50 minutes.  I have to limit my workday lunchtime runs to 50 minutes and move runs longer than that into my evening routine.  There, the challenge is finding time for my runs without compromising time with my family.