Running Diary {Half Marathon Plan}

 

 

Whilst sat relaxing with a cuppa and Facebook on the weekend a link appeared from the Bath Half Marathon reminding me of the fact that it is now ten weeks away. Spitting my tea out just a little I had a momentary wave of anxiety pass over me.
Ten weeks?!
How will I be ready in TEN WEEKS??
Luckily, I have been planning this for a while.
I like to plan - it drives the husband mad but without a plan I am lost.
My fridge has been covered with monthly planners all colour coded with gel pens and sharpies and swiftly edited when a run or workout didn't happen or changed days. I went through a phase of awarding myself little sticky gold and silver stars when getting myself ready for my 10k Race for Life last summer - maybe I should find those again?
But, the plan seems to be doing its job, although I have been doing three runs a week rather than four and the Christmas holiday replaced my living room DVD workouts with an increased Prosecco and sausage roll intake. So, I thought I should now tweak my '10 weeks to go' plan.

Before today - Week 1 Tuesday* - I was up to 7 miles for my long run with two additional runs at 4 and 5 miles each.
My days aren't set in stone; due to working at the end of the week, and the mayhem that brings to family life, I am going to keep my Friday evening run at a quick 3 miles around the local roads - this may shift to a Saturday morning. If I feel the urge to head out on a Wednesday evening too then that is my bonus run. If I don't get the extra bonus run in then I'll probably increase my Sunday length a little bit.
The shorter 3 mile run I aim to do as a fartlek/interval run and ideally I need to find some hills.
It isn't perfect but it is adaptable, and hopefully achievable, so this is what I'm aiming to do over the next ten weeks...

*I did it! I ran the furthest I have ever ran today - 8 miles at a steady-ish 9:30 minute mile pace and am very happy that I had no knee niggles at all!

x x x