In an attempt to get myself running more I booked in a half-marathon which was on Saturday just gone. It was a good plan on paper, but it didn’t lead to any incentive to run. This year has been quite the struggle.
I had plenty of intention to go to the race, and the day before I was planning what I needed to wear and take with me, but I wasn’t 100% sure as the last run I did was the 10Km race 2 weeks beforehand. So, naturally on the morning of the half-marathon I was feeling pretty negative about the idea of doing it. I felt full of self-doubt. I mean, I hadn’t run for 2 weeks! Not once.
Thankfully with a little coercion from Steve I made the effort to go.
The race was along the Thames, so was a flat race so I had some optimism. I got round it, but it was pretty challenging and took me 2:35:02 so there was a fare amount of walking. The 2 half-marathons I ran last year I ran in 2:33:36 which was a mega hilly one and another in 2:30:55.
On reflection some training would obviously have been nice, but I feel quite impressed with myself that I was able to tackle a half-marathon and complete it without quitting despite the lack of training.
I’m more than aware that now I have done it I should take this opportunity to get back to training properly. I need plans and races charts and stickers. These are the things that helped me last year.
On Sunday I made it to Yin and the class was exquisite. It was exactly what I needed and stretched out all my sore muscles from the run and by Monday I felt great.
I planned to get up early on Monday to go to the gym but I needed to sleep more and so I did and then didn’t really have time to get to the gym and back before work, but I realised I could just go for a walk as it was a lovely morning. I took a 30 minute walk around the common appreciating the early morning, the change in the air, Spring on the horizon and blossom on the trees. It felt good, I should definitely do that more often.
I planed to get to yoga on Tuesday evening and maybe even get to the gym to do some weights if I didn’t feel too achy, but work had an unplanned change and it was late by the time I got home so I decided to take Tuesday as a rest day – although I made sure I walked home from where I was working so I got my 10000 steps for the day.
This week is the first week this year that I have been at home all week which feels good, and I have the intention of doing some exercise every day so that I can build up my fitness again. In my lunch break today I went to Bikram yoga – a 60 minute class but I found it very hard as I haven’t really done many Bikram classes this year so far.
So the plan for the rest of the week is:
- Thursday: Interval run
- Friday: Bikram
- Saturday: Parkrun 5Km and Yin
- Sunday: Gym workout
I have also been using Noom again this week and have lost a pound, so I am really hoping that I can keep this momentum up.
Onwards and upwards…..
