Ill weather.....
I am all set to start my half-marathon training; running in the park, beginning to put some core exercises into my post stretch routine and building the focus I know I am going to need to push past my 11K maximum. Not to mention the anticipation of wearing my presents, because an interesting discovery is that once you have become a runner you need never struggle to answer the question "what do you want for Christmas?" The easy and truthful answer now can always be "oh running kit please."
However; after 8 hours on a plane I have come down with a fluey cold - all shivers and achy bones that meant my Christmas Eve run of 5K ended rather abruptly at around the 1.7K mark when I felt my ankles give way and my thighs begin to tremble. I tried to push through and run/walk the rest of it but that was not going to happen as the growing sense of nauseous and faintness kept me focused on just trying to get home in one piece. Consequently I have been laid up and dosed up on cold remedies and whiskey for the past 48 hours.
I have decided to work on the assumption that this will be my only hiccup in my training plan and that I will be up and (literally) running very soon. This is, I am hoping, my ill weather phase.
All weather or fair weather?
As I am now a real runner the next big test is to find out whether that is really true. Do I run in all weather or will I be a fair weather runner? The opportunity to test this theory arrived this morning when I felt well enough to attempt an easy 5K up to Marble Arch and back.* I got myself ready and then I looked out of the window. It was raining, grey and cold outside with a brisk wind whipping up the puddles and ensuring a steady horizontal rain fall. I stood looking out of the window debating whether I should go out or curl up on the sofa to watch some Christmas television - though with what is on offer that may well have been a worse experience. I decided I should go out, I wanted to run and what is the difference between running in the rain or running in the stifling heat? Just varying degrees of discomfort.
 |
| Early morning at the Serpentine |
It turned out to be a great run, not fast but steady and after being laid up for a couple of days I was happy with it, a little under 5K in 30 minutes. The rain poured, the wind blew and I and a few other runners were out in the park putting in our necessary miles with smiles on our faces. Now I have conquered at least one run in vile weather I have set the precedence that is going to be difficult in the future to ignore. I think I am an all weather runner!
Training Schedule
Here is my long run schedule (kindly put together by my running buddy, hence the miles) that I will be embarking on every Saturday up to race day. We are also mixing in some speed work on the Piedmont Park track mid-week, and I will squeeze in a couple more short and medium runs during the week. Aiming to run at least 4 times a week up to 17th March and mix that with some cross training to build up muscle and stamina.
Long runs timetable
3rd January - 6 miles (9.6K) in London
12th January - 7 miles (11K)
19th January - 4 miles (6.4K)
26th January - 8 miles (12.8K)
2nd February - 9 miles (14.4K)
9th February - 6 miles (9.6K)
16th February - 8 miles (12.8K)
23rd February - 10 miles (16K)
2nd March - 8 miles (12.8K)
9th March - 6 miles (9.6K)
* This post was written on Boxing Day, but due to appalling internet connectivity it has taken a few extra days to be able to post. Short up-date: all over the flu, done a couple more moderate runs in the park and the weather has got even colder....
No comments:
Post a Comment