Its getting cold ... so now it is time to run

Yes, I started my running campaign last week. Maybe inspired by Lance Armstrong's own completion of the NY marathon, or maybe just because it is getting cold and wet (which is not ideal, and indeed downright hairy on a road bike), I am now trying to run 3 times a week (which I did last week!). I am also signed up to my first 'fun run' - Zurich Silvesterlauf; which I presume translates to the Zurich Christmas run. It is a 8.5km run and I have have registered for the < 48 minute group; my aim to run it in < 40 minutes.

So on to week 1:

I started with a leisurely somewhat painful 30 minute run at lunchtime on Tuesday. It hurt and it was not easy. Surprisingly, to do this in the middle of the work day was somewhat relaxing and I found that I was able to focus on work a lot better in the afternoon, although I was absolutely starving following, despite having a large lunch.

I followed this up on the weekend with 2 x 5km runs. Wow - I couldn't believe how much it continued to hurt! I have been cycling on and off for the last 3 months, despite this, after each run, my chest was extremely tight, and my calf muscles have been sore now for a week. Having said that, there was some conditioning as I seemed to just be able to manage 4m 30s / kilometres over 4 km. Now in the next 3 weeks I just need to extend that to 8km; sheesh.