Half-marathon: Respect the distance

Well, that was blooming hard work. One year on from the Edinburgh Marathon I succeeded in dragging myself round the Edinburgh Half-Marathon course. Which wasn't bad, given the 8am start time (hello 06:30 hours on a Sunday morning!), but was definitely hard work.

Notes to self:

1) when deciding to complete a running event, do some training which involves actual running. And make sure that the long runs in particular are completed. Cross-training, no matter how extensive (see: <http://fouterandskive.blogspot.co.uk/>), is not enough...

2) dinner on the night before such an event should be nice and early. I'll say no more on that front, but definitely - early dinner the night before will probably make for a much less... Stressful "race" experience.

3) the Traitor Toes do not like exercise. Now, there's not much that can be done about them, but in future they should be padded, probably some Ibuprofen ingested and foot-soothing lotion applied before exercise. Because it really is quite debilitating to hit mile 3 of a 13.1 mile (allegedly!) run and to find oneself thinking "Ouch!" every time that one's foot hits the ground. Either that or just cut them off (which I was seriously considering at about mile 9).

Comparing my marathon stats with the half-marathon stats... I went through 10k in almost exactly the same time (slightly faster this time) but I got to half-marathon distance 6+ minutes faster when doing the marathon. And my pace-per-mile took a slow slide from about 7 to 8 miles in the half. Obvious conclusion is that I am slightly fitter/faster this year than that over a "short" distance (out to 8 miles or so) but don't have the same endurance as last year.

Terribly interesting... At least as it informs the on-going training. Where running becomes a cross-training activity (yay! And at the same time, more running?!) because this year I'm all about the cycling... Over ridiculously long distances... *sigh* Endurance work ahoy!

:o)

Running time/distance: 2 hrs 36 mins 26 secs, 13.48 miles (a half-marathon completed carelessly)

5x50: Planning

I'm currently enjoying some 'Nam flashbacks. Ah, yes, I love the smell of Deep Heat in the morning...

Continuing to work on my Quasimodo - I think that it's almost perfect. Cricked shoulder got worse post run (which really shouldn't have come as a surprise) and meant that I got little to no sleep on Tuesday night, leading to a surprise day off from exercise on Wednesday night.

This sounds good (well, a day off from exercise sounds good, but it pretty much just involved whingeing about my shoulder and lots of Ibuprofen). But going "off-plan" is not at all a good idea at the moment. Mostly because I have several running concurrently. There's the half-marathon training plan (this involves running 4 times a week). Then there's the cycling training plan (which involves cycling 4 times a week). And then there's the 5x50 training (5km daily is the goal... Well, in theory, anyway.)

I suspect that this means that I will be deficient in training for something in short order. Well, I already am, really. Ooops...

Obviously, to make up for this, I planned to do exercise tonight - preferably a run (when the rain cleared). However, it's Friday night. An official day of rest, but also a night with form on the planning front. That is, Fridays normally go like this:

Plan to go for (catch-up) run in the evening. Eat accordingly all day (must have energy).
Go to supermarket on way home. Buy post-run treats.
Get home, have a seat for a bit, eat some of the post-run treats.
Eat the rest of the post-run treats, and re-plan run for the weekend (usually gets re-scheduled for first-thing Saturday morning).
Watch bad TV late. Go to bed eventually...

And indeed, this is how Friday night has gone this week... For the intrigued, Saturday morning normally goes like this:

Wake up to alarm. Re-set alarm for another hour's sleep.
Wake up again. Wonder how it can be that I'm doing all this exercise but not losing any weight.
Ponder things over breakfast.
Realise it's now noon and I haven't done anything yet. Re-schedule run for Sunday...

The question is, is it better to go with a tried-and-tested plan, or to wander off into uncharted territory by actually exercising on a Saturday morning...? I'm not a big fan of change...

:o)

Running time/distance: 0 mins, 0 miles (but I did practise some shambling to go with my lurching)

5x50: The bells! The bells!

Actually went out for a "run" this evening. Rather unusually... Figured I ought to give it a go since there are less than 3 weeks to go to the half-marathon and, you know, it seems a little foolish to assume that some cycling and gym work will be sufficient to get from start to finish.

Have had a bit of an odd weekend. Weather was the usual bank holiday special - not particularly inspiring, followed by a return-to-work Tuesday full of warm spring sunshine. Bank holiday Monday was particularly enjoyable for me as I woke up with a sore and stiff shoulder.One of those situations where you go to bed fine and wake up crooked. Shoulder is still stiff and sore but much improved today, but still...

Between the stiff and sore shoulder, my bad leg, and the Traitor Toes (particularly sore today)... Let's face it - there's a film set out there crying out for my interpretation of Quasimodo. I am coming to terms with my new walking style, and in fact am rather proud of my lurching. Not as easy as it looks, you know, lurching.

Obviously, I've already got the low-level groaning down pat ("My feet! My feet!"). So now I just need to find a willing film-maker and a new career lies before me...

Never let it be said that I don't look at the bright side of life!

:o)

Running time/distance: 1 hour 3 mins, 5.51 miles (sunny and warm... Didn't make it any more fun, sadly)