Running Naked (Well, Almost)

North Downs Ridge 50k Training Block - Week 2/17

Tuesday's training plan had a 7km run pencilled in, which worked out rather nicely with the planned Worthing Striders club session. The session was a naked 5K - not quite what it sounds like, thankfully, but a run without any technology to keep track of pace or distance.

The idea was to predict your 5K finishing time beforehand, then head out and see how accurately you could judge your own pace without looking at a watch or phone. I settled on a predicted time of 30 minutes 50 seconds, which seemed about right and fitted quite neatly with the suggested pace for my planned 7km easy run. I was fairly confident I'd nail it.

I was wrong!

Running alongside club mates made this a little easier, and the conversation certainly helped take my mind off the effort. It's funny how running and chatting with other people can make a faster pace feel considerably more comfortable. I did actually time the 5km afterwards, and the result was 29:44 - a full 66 seconds quicker than my prediction. So much for my ability to judge pace!

The club session was sandwiched between an easy-paced jog to and from the meeting point, so what was originally supposed to be a 7km run ended up being almost 10km in total. A nice little bonus in terms of mileage, and a good way to combine the planned easy running with something a bit different. There were no problems during the session, although I'm still keeping an eye on the left foot. It's encouraging that it seems OK at the moment, but I don't want to get complacent and assume the niggle has completely disappeared.