Training Plan - Phase 2

1 June 2014 to 5 July 2014 - Phase 2

Weekend long runs had got to 13 miles, little bit off target would have liked to have made it to the 15 miles point but it was a busy month and all sorts of things got in the way over the weekends, as a result my longer runs suffered on a couple of Sunday's, so although I managed to get runs in they were either flat or uphill and shorter,

Tuesday runs to work - intervals, starting off at .25 mile at 3k pace and 1.5 mile rest x 12. (Run/walk recovery run home)

Thursday runs to work - tempo, up to 4 miles at half marathon pace.(Run/walk recovery run home)

Saturday - Hill repeats x 10 seconds, 2 mins rest

Failed terribly at the intervals, struggled with my watch, then set the timer wrong so I was running .40 of a mile before resting, therefore completely blowing up, so still lacking confidence and need to pick up and nail them at my next phase,

Tempo runs were fine, tough and I was ready to stop at 4 miles but I was pretty consistent and confident nailing them.

Hill repeats went out of the window really - again busy weekends and I was lucky that I could fit in a long run.

Gym - totally went out of the window and I didn't go at all for the last 3 weeks, certainly need to reassess that.

Boot camp - started boot camp on a Wednesday night, managed to go a couple of times and really enjoyed it - plan  for next phase is to get there every week.

All in all, not as good as my first phase. Managed a couple of run/walks home. Although in my defence there was a lot going on!!

Training Paln - Phase 1

Spoke to Si about being serious about running and the goals I've set myself, 10K in less that 1 hour, half marathon in less than 2 hours and eventually a full marathon in less than 4 hours, I was soooo far away from any of those goals, so we decided that my focus would be Conway half, 2014, to do in 2 hours 15 mins (or less - ha ha)!! Huge goal, huge commitment, Si came up with a training plan which we could move about if we had to - also 4 weeks into the plan (and every 4ish weeks after) would be a rest week!!

Joined the gym and decided Mon, Wed and Fri morning would be gym days, programme from Dewi.

27 April 2014 to 265 May 2014 - Phase 1

Weekend long runs start at 8 miles, no stopping, no walking, no pace though, as slow as it needs to be just to get round.

Tuesday runs to work - intervals, starting off at .15 mile at 3k pace and .15 mile rest x 12. (Run/walk recovery run home)

Thursday runs to work - tempo starting off at 11.00 pace. (Run/walk recovery run home)

Saturday - Hill repeats x 10 seconds, 2 mins rest

I actually surprised myself and Simon and pretty much nailed the first stage, even the long runs, very slow but managing the distance - just!! Even managed to get home from work too!!

Managed the gym ok and quite consistently for the first month.

The Begining - Holidays July 2014

I use the term "holidays" loosely, gone are the days when being on holiday meant doing pretty much nothing, these days having a "rest" day causes all sorts of panicky thoughts, like "will I loose my fitness"? "how many calories am I allowed for my tea before I start inflating like a balloon"?

I think its right that I should use this "holiday" time to reflect on where I've come from and where I'm aiming to be, Si's suggested blogging as a way of reminding yourself of what worked and what didn't, so that you can look back and try and put things right. So I'll start at the beginning.

I started running about 3 years ago, very slowly but I love it, I really didn't have any sort of plan to my training, just put my shoes on, run to work and try and run faster each time then at the weekend do a longer run. In November 2013 this all changed and for some unknown, insane, reason I decided to enter the Conway half marathon, with very little time to train beforehand I managed to complete it in 2hrs 52mins, brilliant course, up and around the Great Orme in Llandudno.  I started off with Lucie (who'd talked me into doing the race in the first place) and soon realised that I was running her race and not my own, (advise from the Morley, running with somebody is fab but just be careful that you run your own race and not theirs), so I told Lucie to carry on and I backed off to a pace that I was much more comfortable with, we'd just started to come into Llandudno and not even hit the Orme when I started struggling with the hill, it was always going to be about just getting round but I honestly thought I wouldn't have to walk so early, whatever I didn't panic, put my head down and did it, my fear is always that I'm going to come last but I knew there were people behind me, not many but a few!! Coming down the Orme was brilliant, I passed so many people and just couldn't understand why they would be walking downhill (Christine pointed out to me later that people do train on going uphill but now coming down, they tend to use the down hills as recovery and walk, good theory)!! I had terribly tummy issue's as we got back into Conway and felt awful for the rest of that day and into the night, didn't really enjoy my fray bentos pie either!! I learnt a lot about myself that day but more importantly I learned that its not enough just to get out there and do it, if I'm going to enter races I want to do the best I can and certainly not come last, enter Si with a training plan.