Half Marathon Training – Week 1

I’m going to post weekly my half marathon training progress. I think it will be lovely to read back in future years when I’ve got 600 marathons under my belt (yeah right!) to see where it all began, and hopefully someone will find it interesting to read!

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My dog Phoebe!

So this week the aim was to run 3-4 times with one of those runs being a long run of 11km. This is how it panned out:

Run 1, Tuesday – Distance: 4.83km Time: 34:27 Pace: 7:08
I didn’t intend for this to be a long run as I had to go to my nans house afterwards to sort out my car insurance, but I would’ve liked to have kept going for a couple of km.
I was out running with my dog on the streets, she had a poo at the beginning of the run, fine it was expected, I had a baggie so I picked it up and binned it, but towards the end of the run I could see her circling the grass verges. I didn’t have another baggie though, but luckily I was pretty close to my house so I sprinted back and dragged her into my garden for her to do her business, cutting my run short in the process which is a shame because the run felt quite easy and it was going well.

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Wearing my pink chevron BIC band, it makes me quicker!

Run 2, Saturday – Distance: 10.19km Time: 1:11 Pace: 7:00
This was my long run that I planned to do, but I didn’t reach the 11km I wanted.
The run itself I really enjoyed. I did 5km in the forest and the rest on the streets. This was one of those runs where I was really able to switch off and get in the zone, and after the first 15 minutes I really relaxed into and it felt easy.
I was a little bit slower than my previous 10km, which is fine because I had to stop and tie a shoe laces, wait ages to cross some roads and all that usual malarky. It was also the first run I tried a gel on, which took me forever to open. I tried a black current Sis gel because they can supposedly be taken without water as they’re a bit thinner. Why did no one warn me how disgusting these things are? I really wish I did have some water to wash the bad taste out.
I only started to get tired after 9km, it hit me really suddenly and I think I could’ve kept going to my 11km goal if I pushed myself, but I made the mistake of passing my house on my route so I just gave up which I’m very annoyed at myself about. Other than that it was a very enjoyable run.

Run 3, Sunday – Distance: 2km Time: 15:04 Pace: 7:32
This run was pathetic really. It was supposed to be a gentle 5km with my dog in the forest. My dog kept stoping to sniff things which meant me constantly stopping, back tracking and calling my dog which was just throwing me completely off, it’s so much harder to keep stopping and starting than it is to be consistent!
I had also done a hour pole show rehearsals before going on this run so I think I was just generally tired anyway, it just definitely wasn’t my day so I called it quits and slowed to a walk. I continued to walk for another 3km in the forest with my dog letting her sniff things to her hearts content.

So there we have it, overall a pretty awful week. I will just have to brush it off and try harder next week. I’m quite disappointed in myself, but as someone on twitter said to me, I’m still doing a lot more than most people, so I shouldn’t be so hard on myself.

Week total distance: 17.02km
Weeks until half marathon: 19

I’m running the Brighton half marathon on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Support. If you would like to sponsor me you can do so here.

Category : Running
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