Half marathon training just got so much harder...

How is everyone? I've had this post in draft for almost a week now! Dear me!

I ran intervals last Sunday, they ended up being a bit rushed as I had to do them and fit in a shower and a food shop before work! I was supposed to be doing 800m intervals but decided to do 1600m intervals to lessen the rest time! I also kept the warm up and cool down short to save time. It's better than not doing anything right?

400m warm up
1600m - 6.59 (7.47)
1600m - 7.13 (7.47)
800m - 3.28 (3.44)
400m cool down

1.30 RI

3.5 miles in total

Now, pretty much same thing happened with my tempo run.. It was supposed to be 2M warm up, 3M short tempo and 1M cool down. Well I totally ran out of time before work to fit all of that in and get a shower... Much as I'd love to skip the shower it would be unkind to my colleagues so I decided to do a 5k time trial instead. I was feeling stressed out and I knew a good fast run would make me feel a bit better!

0.5 mile warm-up (a little fast at 9.03 pace!)

5k time trial
Mile 1 - 7.18
Mile 2 - 7.39
Mile 3 - 7.28
0.1 - 0.42 (7.13 pace)
=5k in 23.08!! 7.28 pace :D
Also 2 miles along the way came in 14.57 so that's another goal ticked off! woop woop!

Funnily one of my colleagues said to me the day after 'I think I saw you running near my daughter's school' which was right near the end of my run.. I said did I look like I was dying and she said yes! Haha I always think I must look awful at the end of a really tough run and now I've been spotted!

Now, whilst I'm ecstatic to have shaved 1.43 off my previous 5k time I am now dreading the rest of my half training plan. The times of my long runs, tempo runs and intervals are based on my 5k time and I'm not sure I can acheive them anymore. I'll try though :-) And if it gives me a super speedy half it will be so worth it!

New interval paces
400m - 1.42
600m - 2.35
800m - 3.28
1000m - 4.22
1200m - 5.18
1600m - 7.11
2000m - 9.04

ok, they're probably just doable....

Tempo paces
Short tempo - 7.44
Mid tempo - 7.59
Long tempo - 8.14
Easy - 9.19

ummmm.... help?! Even my easy pace is scary haha! Time will tell, I'll give it a good go! Maybe I'm faster than I realise... I suspect that's wishful thinking, I think I'm just faster over shorter distances..

This plan puts my MP at 8.36.... My HMP which is what I'll be using for long runs as it stands and plus 20-30s per mile depending on the week is 8.16. I would love to run a half at that pace but I don't feel like it's possible at the moment. We'll see. I'd still be ecstatic to break 2hrs and that remains my main goal I doubt whether that's possible on the course I'm doing!

After all that speed work recently intervals x 2 and my fastest yet 5k being my last three runs I was somewhat relieved that my next run was 10 miles, easy, at no specific pace. I did my best to include hills, ignore the pace on the watch and run slowly. I even stopped a few times to pet some horses. I wish I'd had my camera there was a very cute black foal and a really loving black and white horse who snuggled her nose right into me ahhhhh very happy pit stops!

I structured my run in a way to include a long hill twice - basically I ran up and down one side then I ran up and down the other side to try and make it slightly more interesting!! This took me almost 5 miles. Then I ran another 5 mile loop which was flat. Surprisingly it felt ten times harder but I think this was due to the wind becoming strong towards the end of my run.

10 miles in 1:36:09 average pace 9.37
Mile 1 - 9.17
Mile 2 - 9.38
Mile 3 - 9.17
Mile 4 - 9.53
Mile 5 - 9.22
Mile 6 - 9.51
Mile 7 - 9.56
Mile 8 - 9.27
Mile 9 - 9.53
Mile 10 - 9.35

All in all this slow run felt so much harder than my 9.7 mile run of last week where my average pace was 8.57.. It wasn't my lungs as it usually is that lets me down it was my body. I just felt achey the whole way, my shoulder was stiff and sore every time I moved it and my lower back begun to ache in the latter half. I'm guessing those few recent speedy sessions have caught up with me. I almost waited until today to run but I changed my mind. I was feeling low yesterday and I thought a run would boost my spirits a bit. I'm still glad I did it yesterday. The weather is grey and drizzly today! I also might have been a bit overdressed for the run as it was lovely and sunny yesterday. I wore a jumper which was quite obviously a mistake from 0.5 miles in! Oh well, I told myself it would be good practice for coping with the almost inevitible heat of the half I'm doing!

Hope everyone's enjoying the weekend I'm doing as little as possible today after tidying the whole house, sorting out a mountain of washing and running 10 miles yesterday, what are Sundays for!

Speedy 5k!

Hello everyone!

I realised today that I was a week behind on my 10k schedule for the race in October. I decided I'd jig things around to get a schedule that would work for me.. I also unashamedly got rid of the 9 mile tempo, I just couldn't face another long run with no music! I replaced it with a 3 mile tempo run, which soon became a 5k time trial...

Here's the new schedule, it's almost entirely the Run Less Run Faster plan just slightly rearranged... Click to enlarge..
I ended up having a great run!

5k in 24.51 average pace 8.01 WOOHOOOO!! Fastest ever! (last time 25.08, 8.06)
Mile 1 - 8.03
Mile 2 - 8.02
Mile 3 - 7.59 (3 miles in 24.04)
0.1 - 0.46 (7.40 pace)

This run felt really strong for the first two miles, the last mile was really, really horrible! It was really embarrassing actually because at mile 3.05 I had to stop the garmin and spent about 30 seconds dry heaving by some poor persons fence. After I'd got myself together I looked around shiftily and saw two builders giving me funny looks.. oh no! I grinned at them and ran off, I felt rather silly!!

I was hoping to run a 5k in under 25 minutes so I was really happy with my time! Next time I'm hoping that my splits will all begin with a 7!

Laura at Live Well, Laugh Often, Run Much was kind enough to give me an award!

1. Answer the question: If you had one chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?

I wouldn't change anything.. I have made some bad decisions along the way and I sometimes wish I'd worked harder in my first few years of university, I also wish I'd never got an eating disorder or met my ex boyfriend! But all those things made me who I am today and without those things in my life I would be a totally different person today. I might not love running or healthy eating, I might never have met Mike...

2. Pick 6 people and give them this award. You then have to inform the person that they have been selected for the award.

Hotchoc26
Simply Fabulous
Bambi's Eats
I Can Haz Fud?
Running From, Running To...
Brit Bride

Enjoy some more Brit blogs :-)

New Gym and New Job

Mike and I went to the new gym for the first time last night, the training times are pretty late so we pretty much got home ate tea and crashed! I also had my first day at my new job today, I'm really behind on reading all my favourite blogs which makes me sad! I'll be round to say hi soon!

So, the new gym! The training seems pretty good and we got to spar yipeee! Sadly though, we went in our boxing boots so when everyone went out for a 5 mile run we had to skip... I'd pick running over skipping any day of the week so I was gutted! At least we know for next time, take trainers!

There was another girl very close to my weight and similar experience to me so I got some good sparring. Only problem was after the coach saw me on the bags he asked me to go light on her and I ended up going a bit too light on her in the first round and I wasn't throwing enough punches.. I always worry when I have to go light on people cause I don't want to hurt someone who isn't ready for that level.. This girl didn't really need me to go too light on her though which I didn't realise at first. The first round I just took all her shots on my gloves, and she threw a lot! I've never had anyone come flying at me like that before haha, she tired quickly because she threw too much but it was good to be bullied. Now I know that I can block shots when someone comes out like that and that I don't clam up. The second round I still wasn't as busy as I could have been but I continued to block most of her shots and get some good ones in myself. The coach told me in the third round to up it a bit so I did! The third round was definately my best, I threw a lot of good shots and controlled the ring but she did land some good shots too, she threw a lot of hooks which were landing well for her so I had a sore ear at the end haha!

All in all the sparring was competetive and I think we could get a lot out of each other! It seemed like the coach underestimated her as I heard him say to her afterwards that he'd never seen her spar like that! Maybe having another girl to spar with was what she needed to be more competetive and bring out her best. Here's the training we did;

Skipping 30 mins! Damn not bringing trainers!!
Heavy bag 8 x 2 mins 30s rest
Sparring 3 x 2 mins
Cool down 10 mins

I enjoyed it apart from the skipping! The training finished at 9.30 so although I had all the good intentions to write my blog straight away and share my training with you I crashed as soon as I got in!

I had my first day at the new job today. It went pretty well, there was a lot to take in but nothing too hard. I enjoyed the job but I did have a major gripe about it. I was asked to be there at 8.30am until 6pm but I am only paid from 9-5.30... I didn't say anything today because the other manager is in the same position and it's not up to her it's the head office who's saying that but I am not happy about it and I'm not working an extra hour for free every day. I was out from 7.30am and didn't get home until 7, that's almost 12 hours I'm out and to only be paid for 7.5 hours is really frustrating... I'm not sure what to do about it... If anyone has any ideas or suggestions or advice I would really welcome them!

I ate half of my chocolate pulsin pre workout disc on the bus on the way home, it was pretty nice and wasn't too heavy on my stomach before I went out and run a 5k time trial!! The run was soo bloody hard! Even though Mike came with me for some moral support and company I felt sick from mile 1.3 onwards! I think I started a bit fast but that's always my problem! My legs felt bad on the run cause I'd had tough sparring the night before and been on my feet all day.. I absolutely could not believe it when I beat my old 3 mile time, 3 miles in 24.20! 13 seconds off my old time :D aaand that's my new years goal for 3 miles ticked off so maybe I can go for under 24...

Anyway... here are my stats!

3.1 miles in 25.08 average pace 8.06 average HR 179 max HR 190

Mile 1 8.02 HR 169
Mile 2 8.22 HR 183
Mile 3 7.58 HR 185
0.1 .47.58 HR 189

Right I'm off to try and catch up on all my blogs! Hope everyone is good!