No sign of the Perseid Meteor Shower but my running is improving!

Last night when it was well and truely dark five of us bundled in to a car and drove to a remote rural spot in Suffolk and then hopped out of the vehicle and stood by the roadside.

Well one of us stayed in the car as they claimed it was cold. The occasional car passed by with full beam lights and slowed as they passed us. Although we couldn't see the drivers you could tell they were thinking what are 4 people doing stood beside a car in the dark!

The driver had had the bright idea to see if we could find a high spot in Suffolk away from nearby towns and villages so as to get the best possible view of the Perseid Meteor Shower. We stood and stared in all directions for a good hour and to be honest we did see 2-3 shooting stars but were unclear whether this was the Perseid or not.

According to the BBC  the Perseid meteor shower is caused by debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. Every 133 years, the huge comet swings through the inner part of our Solar System and leaves behind a trail of dust and gravel.When Earth passes through the debris, specks hit our atmosphere at 140,000mph and disintegrate in flashes of light.

It was a little too cloudy to see much and so we left our corner of Suffolk and returned home still having enjoyed a bit of star gazing. What was also amazing was the number of planes on a regular flight path across the skies. There was a constant stream of planes sometimes stacked in the sky above each other .

Wednesday I ran 2.5 miles in a comfortable two paced effort. Firstly walking for 5 minutes and then a steady jog for 20 before walking last 5 minutes. I am following a Micoach training plan to get me fit by using the heart rate monitor (hrm)as my key driver rather than pace per mile.  I have never really used a hrm before and am learning this takes a little practice to make the sensors on the back of the strap to work. Frustratingly on this run they didn't work - not absolutely sure why but probably down to the need to moisten the sensors with warm water before the run. I did wet them but with cold water and I didn't centre the HRM in the centre of the chest like you are supposed to do.

This morning I did a 20 minute effort but I again struggled with the HRM. Perhaps it is too loose and needs to be tighter. Hopefully I will crack this to make the HRM work otherwise for me I will return to the Garmin.  Todays run was the best yet as I followed the advice of my android lady friend coach. A warm up of 5 minutes was followed by a run of ten minutes  in the yellow zone which is a fairly decent paced run . What I didn't notice was any foot pain today so I am realy pleased with this and hope it continues. A warm down jog and my 20 minutes was complete.

Progress is being made finally!