Monday 13 February 2012

69 (heheh) days to go, but a half marathon in just 5!


Tally ho chappies!

Only 5 days (well, 4.5 really) until the first half marathon in my training program as I start to really build up the distances ahead of the Big One, which is just 69 (hehehehe) days away! On that note, ta to everyone who has sponsored me so far, with a big shout out (90’s DJ style) to the anonymous Mr. Miyagi for his generous donation as well as my brother for his deal – I have to give back half the money if I don’t do it in less than 4 hours 30. Incentive indeed. If you keep thinking “I should sponsor him”, then why not do it now at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runningfatbloke.

Right, that’s the money bit out of the way. Onto the running part:

So, last time out I had just done my second longest run of the program so far, an 18km run on the treadmill on Wednesday night. Unsurprisingly I had to have Thursday evening off as I was still pretty knackered and the tops of my knees were sore.

However there is no rest for the wicked and come Friday I was back in the gym, although it was not going to be a massive workout as it was a warm down from Wednesday as well as a bit of a stretch before the weekend’s work. In the end I smashed out 7.5km in just over 42 minutes, giving me a pace of 5mins 40 seconds per km. Not fast by any means and my shoulders felt really stiff after but I was pleased to have done it.

Shockingly, that was only my second workout of the week, due to illness on Monday and Tuesday, so it was back down the gym on Saturday. I actually wanted to go for a run outside, but there was still plenty of snow and ice about and if I injured myself due to slipping over then I would be super annoyed. So, more treadmill time and this time I quickly smashed my way though 9km. I wanted to do more, but was going to visit my grandparents and just ran out of time.  Still, I did it in 48minutes at a pace of 5.19 and felt pretty good afterwards, the stiffness having worked its way out.

This left my weekly mileage at only 34km, some way short of the 46.5km seen the week before. Now, before a half marathon you are meant to wind down a bit so you have plenty of energy come the day, but this was winding down a bit too far. So, Sunday afternoon, when I judged the snow had melted enough (and two different weather reports said the temperature was over 1 degree) I put on my cold weather running gear and went outside.

I was not sure how far I was going to run, with my only target to do at least 6km to round my weekly distance up to 40km. Essentially I was just going to do a big loop and if I got too cold then just cut across and get home. In the end I set off on the 14km route I had done a few weeks before, then cut towards home about halfway in, so I ended up doing 10km.

Actually, that is not quite true. I got to my flat having done 9.8km, so actually ran past it, round the roundabout at the top of the road and then back down the street to hit 10km dead on. That left the weekly distance at 44km, not too bad considering I was ill at the start of the week.

The plan for this week is to go the gym today (Monday) and then again before going out for dinner tomorrow night with Wifey, making it 5 consecutive days of running, although Tuesday’s run might be a bit shorter. I have then got Wednesday night off before the final pre-race run on Thursday evening. Then the race on Saturday morning, followed by a fancy dress 30th birthday party Saturday night. Should be interesting…..

Please remember that I am putting myself through all this to raise money for the Willow Foundation, as well as getting less fat. You can sponsor me at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runningfatbloke and to all the people who have already done, so, thank you, it is very much appreciated and is spurring me on to train.

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