TRAINING UPDATE: Week 10 of half marathon training

I can't believe I am in the last days of my training. Wokingham is now only two weeks away and I have been in the final stages of race prep before I begin to wind down and taper. 

Week nine was an interesting one. I had ended week eight with a 10 mile training run. I luckily had my best friend join me and we tend to chat ALOT when we run together so the mile pace for this was a very casual 8.50. The following day, I didn't ache exactly but I did decide to give my body a rest from cardio and instead I did a small weights workout. I am now successfully using my 5KGs at least once a week which is huge progress given that I was struggling to lift them only weeks ago. 

(10 miles with my bestie!)

By Tuesday, I was starting to feel the familiar feeling of training fatigue. I always get this towards the end and I was also experiencing a very busy period in my job which doesn't help. Cycling home that evening, I couldn't be arsed to go out for my paced run and when I got in, I decided to skip it. However, as I started to get changed out of my cycling kit, guilt flooded over me and I fought the urge to slob on the sofa and told myself to get into my running kit and get out the front door. 

It was hard but I eventually was outside, Garmin set and starting off on a four mile paced run (it was meant to be five but sod it!). Despite feeling absolutely shattered, I decided to take a different route to  my normal one to change things up. This one turned out to be bloody hilly! My god it was so hard. Up and down, up and down. It was endless! Time managed to pass quickly though and I was super chuffed to see that I had finished with an average mile pace of 7.38 (faster than it should be!). I was ecstatic and so glad I had plucked up the courage to head out. 

Come the next day and elation had quickly turned to pain. I woke up with the most painful shins. Even to lightly touch them made me wince - it was horrid. Every step I took was agony and I found more comfort on my bike than actually putting my feet on the ground! By Thursday, it was even worse (it always is the second day isn't it?). I was worried I had come down with the dreaded shin splints but after much research, I think I had a bad case of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Still though, it was awful and I decided to skip training for three whole days. 

By Sunday, I was down to run 13 miles. Ugh the dreaded long run of my training plan. Luckily, my shins were feeling OK by this point but the weather outside was greatly putting me off. It was chucking it down with rain and I could see trees bending over backwards from the strong winds. Seeing my husband snuggled down in the duvet, I begrudgingly got out of bed and changed into my kit. I opted to wear my new Mizuno Breathe Thermo Wind Running Top (shop here). I got this for Christmas from the hubby and it is a beautiful piece of kit. It works to keep you dry and warm during the winter months as the yarns captures escaping heat. I was a little hesitant of its thickness and that I would overheat but it turned out to be an absolute lifesaver! The rain was awful and it kept me dry up until 7-8 miles before I started to feel slight dampness on my skin. I think that is good going though!

(wearing Mizuno Breathe Thermo Wind Running Top)

Going back to the actual run, I found myself going at quite a good pace. I was ranging between 8.10 - 8.40 mile pace and it felt comfortable and controlled. I ran all over North London and then ventured down to Angel and St Pauls, followed by running up the Southbank and over to Buckingham Palace. Doing 13 miles on my own was a bit lonely but I kept myself busy taking in some of London's wonderful sights. 

(Sunday morning practise for the Queen's guards)

By the final mile, I dug deep to try and do it at target half marathon pace (which I did) and found I finished the whole run in just over 1.48! To say I was chuffed is an understatement. I was surprised at this time as I did try to go at a pace that was casual and not overly strenuous. I'm pleased that this turned out to be faster than I expected. 

Coming into week 10, I didn't feel too tired from my long run. Again, I made Monday a weights day and headed out for a paced run on Tuesday. This did come out a lot slower than all my previous ones (and I mean ALOT - my average mile pace was 8.58) but I do think my legs were a bit heavy from the 13 miles two days previous. Due to social commitments, I skipped sessions on Wednesday and Thursday but switched them to Friday and Saturday. First up was my weekly swim session (which went well) and then early Saturday morning I headed out for a speed session.

I opted to carry out the pyramid session my club had done at training on the Thursday I missed. It involved started long and slow, then getting shorter and faster and going all the way back up to the top again:

1200m (half marathon pace)

800m (10K pace)

400m (5K pace)

200m (sprint!)

400m (5K pace)

800m (10K pace)

1200m (half marathon pace)

(60 seconds rest between each set)

I love doing these as at the time they feel bloody tough but you know you are pushing your body hard. If you decide to do these sessions, make sure you follow the correct pace. Try your best to go fast on the shorter distances but remember to reserve energy for when you are back up to 1200m. That last set burns! It totals just over 5K and I was happy with my average pace and mile splits:

The next day (today) it was my weekly long run. Now I was actually supposed to be doing the Regent's Park 10K race today but I felt like I needed to get another long run in for practise. So, I headed out on this gloriously sunny day to take on 10 miles. I managed to keep similar pace to last weeks 13 miles and again felt steady and controlled. Opted to do the last two miles at target half marathon pace and ended up doing them much fast than anticipated! Wahoo! The weather was so beautiful today too so London's sights were in their true glory. 

(Left: St Pauls, Right: Buckingham Palace)

So this brings me to the end of week 10! Looking back on my whole plan, I do feel pleased with where I am. Yes, I have missed a couple of sessions and maybe tweaked a few too many paced runs but overall, it isn't too shabby. Do I think I can secure that all important sub 1.45? At this time, I honestly don't know. Whilst I feel happy I can do the distance, I am a little fearful I will run out of steam at mile 9/10 and end up wilting away in the final stage. But, this could be mind over matter and I will need to ensure on race day my head in screwed on properly and ready to take on the challenge and reach my goals. 

Lipstick Runner.

TRAINING UPDATE: Week 8 of half marathon training

I'm two thirds into my half marathon training and I must say I am feeling a little apprehensive. It has been a manic couple of weeks, what with a new job and just generally getting back into the swing of a normal routine post Christmas. I have managed to upkeep a strong steady plan (I may have missed two sessions though), yet I am feeling utterly exhausted!

Week six of training was my first week in my new job so I had get used to a new cycle route. This one is slightly longer than my previous commute and includes some short, steep hills. Three weeks in and I am already seeing the benefits this commute is having on my cycling. I feel faster and stronger which is an added bonus as it helps set me up for triathlon training in March. Anyway, going back to week six and it kicked off with a swim using my new Garmin watch that I got for Christmas. It quite simply is such a delight to have one of these on a swim now. Gone are forgetting how many laps you have done halfway through a swim and now I can finally see how fast I am going. This watch has an accelatrometer so I have to make sure I push off for the start of a new lap hard enough for it to clock a new length. For this session, I did a simple front crawl swim up to 1250m and was really pleased to come in just over 27 minutes. 

Next up on Tuesday was a paced four mile run where I really struggled in the first mile to reach a 7.55 pace. I was almost 30 seconds behind schedule! So I upped my speed and overall finished the run with an average pace of 7.54. This is great as its my half marathon target pace, however, due to that slow mile, I had to run the last three faster.

By Thursday, I had decided to venture down to the athletics track with my running club to kick off the year with a tough speed session. Annoyingly, I forgot my watch (I was livid!) so I had to run blind a session of:

1200m threshold running

5x 400m @ 5K pace

1200m threshold running

(60 secs rest between each set)

Despite not knowing my pace, I ran the fastest I could and felt super energised at the end - can you tell!?

At the weekend, I rested on the Saturday, rolling and stretching to get prepared for a 10K race on Sunday. This was the normal 10K I do - Mornington Chasers Regents Park 10K. I was oddly feeling quite nervous (even though I have done the race so many times!) about the pace I would be able to keep for this and the weather that particular morning was fecking freezing! By the time I arrived at the park, my hands and feet were frozen. I just wanted to get running to warm up!

Luckily after the first of three laps on the course, I had warmed up and was stripping off my gloves. I tried my best to keep steady throughout and managed to cross the finish line in 46.45 with an average pace of 7.30. I am really happy with this as it has been my target 10K pace in the tempo runs I have been doing.

The next day (and the start of week seven), I opted to do a workout session at home as my legs were a bit tired. For Christmas, I got Joe Wick's Lean in 15 book (which by the way I highly recommend) and he includes some HIIT workouts in there. Looking at the weights focussed one, I thought I could do it so I picked up my 5KGs and got to work. 

Oh my lord it was hard! I had to use these weights for squats, lunges, bicep curls, press up arm pulls and a couple of other things. I had to repeat the workout three times but sheepishly gave up after two as my body felt broken. Man alive I am weak! Give me endurance any day but tell me to do a weight session and I am useless. The next day I felt it too. Lets just say I took the lifts that day at work.

The rest of the week, I carried out a swim, hill repeats and a paced run, ending the week with a nine mile run. Joined by a fellow running buddy, we went out easy and finished with an average pace of 8.55. The distance didn't feel too bad either which must be good!

Come week eight and I am starting to feel tired. Work was particularly busy this week and I found myself staying late some nights, which caused a bit of disruption to my training plan. On Tuesday, I was supposed to get up at 6am for a run but told my alarm to f**k off when it went off. I laid in and woke up with enough time to get ready and dash to work. I felt guilty I didn't go for a run and so I decided to make up for it and would do a quick run session after work before I met my friend for a catch up coffee.  My GPS wouldn't work on my watch so I decided to run hard for 30 minutes. And I really did - so much so that halfway round the outer circle of Regent's Park I tripped and went flying! I managed to save myself from any rolled ankles or grazed knees thank god! I finished in Kings Cross where I met my friend and felt like I had maintained a good pace. When I got home that night, I decided to look at the route I took on MapMyRun and it turns out I did four miles bang on. So in 30 minutes that is 7.30 pace! Wahoo!

After this successful session, it went downhill from there as work was still crazy busy. I ended up missing a planned tempo run on Thursday. I tried so hard to get up on Friday to do it before work but I was unbelievably tired and just couldn't drag my body from the warmth of my bed. 

Do I feel guilty for missing this? Well yeah, but at the same time work has to come first over my hobby and sometimes this just cannot be helped. Instead of feeling bad, I am going to dust myself off and carry on. Next up is a 10 mile run tomorrow where I will again be going casually to get my legs used to the distance. 

To reflect on the past eight weeks and the next four until race day, I feel OK(ish). I don't feel strong and confident to secure the all important sub 1.45 but I am going on the hope that everything will all come together on race day. For now, I just need to keep focussed and simply do the best that I can. There is no point in worrying or piling on the pressure. At the end of the day, whatever I do will be an achievement and who can complain about that. :) 

Lipstick Runner. 

TRAINING UPDATE: Extreme exhaustion yet running improvements!

(source: Quickmeme)

The last couple of weeks can only be described as exhausting. There has been a sudden drop in temperature, daylight hours have decreased and the sudden need for piping hot soup and Horlicks has returned.

I like to follow a pattern - its merely organisation. When it becomes challenging to follow that pattern, it does slightly irritate me. You will have seen that I love a good training plan (read here) and when it becomes hard to follow this regime, I automatically panic that I will lose everything I have trained for. I always wonder if this is a common concern for runners, or whether it's just me being paranoid..?

It has been mostly weekday training that has been hard to squeeze in. Due to a manic work schedule currently, finding the time (and energy) to squeeze in a run at the end of the day has been tough. Come 8pm, when I am ready to head out, my mind and body lacks the boost to go pound the streets. The pitch black outdoors is also incredibly uninviting. In my mind, I know as soon as I am out running, endorphins will kick in and I will find my running mojo but it is initially getting the foot out of the front door that I am finding hard to do.

So whilst weekday training has been in dribs and drabs, I have made sure I make the most of my weekends to work towards increasing my mileage and I am pleased to say that my goal to reach 13 miles by Christmas is looking very achievable.

I first started to see progress when I ran to Tower Bridge (read about this here) and reached eight miles. I found it tough but stuck to a controlled, steady pace of 8.27 per mile. I was happy with this but wanted to increase my threshold pace. So I followed this with a couple of fartlek sessions and hill runs in a bid to improve strength and speed.

Next up a couple of weeks later was The Mornington Chasers Regents Park 10K. Sticking to my plan to complete two 10Ks by the end of the year, this was the first. I decided to pick this race as it is my clubs own and it offers a slightly challenging, undulating course. I have done this race many times (my PB is 45.45) but my aim for this fixture was to get a sub 50. This event was to test exactly where my race pace was at.

Turns out, my race pace is faster than expected! Seems those speed sessions paid off. At times during the race, I did wonder if I was holding back. I am well aware of how easy it is to overdo it on a 10K. I wanted to remain strong with even splits and that is exactly what I achieved, plus a finish of 46.54! Each mile ranged between 7.22 and 7.42 which I am super pleased with as it shows I am starting to control and own my pace.

Following my 10K high, I decided to up the distance to 10 miles. For this, I ended up being back in my home town and took the opportunity to enjoy a relatively flat route for this. I opted for the towpath, which I thought would be nice and scenic with fresh country air when in fact I found it incredibly dull and continuous. I couldn't wait until I reached five miles as I knew I could turn round and come back! Despite my lack of interest on the route, I again felt good, despite having another awful week of missed training sessions. I completed the run in 1.22.16 which is only four minutes off my PB for this distance!

By seeing this progress, I have really started to enjoy running again. Post triathlon, I really struggled to get back into distance running. I missed my 5Ks and HIIT sessions but these last few weeks, I have reignited my passion for road running.

To finish off this post on an even bigger high, today I woke up and headed out on an eight mile run. I took a similar course to my Tower Bridge route but decided to head west when I reached Southbank towards Big Ben. As I hit eight miles by the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben struck 10am and I was so, SO happy to see that I had ran this distance four minutes quicker than last time and hit an average pace of 7.55.

I AM FINALLY BACK IN THE SUB 8 CLUB!

Lipstick Runner.