- Monday February 8th trail run 7.2km at 44:22.
- Tuesday February 9th Inferno Hot Pilates.
- Wednesday February 10th easy swimming lengths for 45 mins and trail run 7km at 43:52.
- Thursday February 11th trail run 8km at 45:21.
- Saturday February 12th group run 7.5 at 46:23.
I can't believe I have already been training a month toward my half marathon goal. Every week I see improvements in my fitness levels which in turn is spurring me on to keep going with the training. Basking in my new runners persona I decided to sign up for the Rock and Road 10km Kinvara race in March. They do various races for runners and walkers and the route is pretty straight forward, nice and flat for my first real race. I feel like I need a small goal in between my half marathon to keep me focused and ensure I am in constant training mode, plus it will be such a boost getting my finishers shirt and medal.
On a side note I have been experiencing the strange phenomenon of phantom sole bleeding(????) this usually occurs about 4km into my runs where I inexplicably feel like the soles of my feet are on fire and bleeding (anyone care to explain) apparently uncommon as there seems to be zero Google searches for this. While not terribly comfortable, it has yet to put me off, will investigate further!
My Monday run involved a variation of the usual trail run I have been doing for the last couple of weeks, I feel the benefits of the uphill/downhill route when I go on the weekend group runs as it forces me to speed up and slow down at different intervals causing me to focus on controlling my legs and breathing properly.
Off I went in Tuesday to my Inferno Pilates class, as the class had some new beginners, we took it down a notch. My initial thought was yay!! this will be easy! But No! The 30 degree heat is INTENSE and the repeated muscle focus kept me on my toes and it was a struggle to finish strong. However I still enjoy the class and I can definitely feel my muscles, particularly my core, have strengthened significantly, all beneficial to help reduce the risk of injury and I have even been contemplating doing 2 classes a week (crazy person alert) closer to race day.
My Wednesday morning swim was such a success that I decided to go on a 7km loop of Belleek (crazy person alert number 2). It was the first sunny spring day we have had and even though I'd had an early start that morning and was feeling tired I still managed to focus and completed my run in less than the 45 minutes my coach had instructed us to do our solo runs this week. All small successes in the quest for half marathon!
Thursday was another beautiful day and I was up early to hit the parkrun, initially planning on 5km but managed to fit in 7.5 in 43.21. I usually don't run on Fridays and applauded myself on a good training week until I read a message on our marathon Whatsapp group chat that someone had done 9km in 50 minutes that day! Oh well, positives thoughts for next week!
Saturday was group run again. This time we stepped in up by including the dreaded hill repeats. Not exactly the funnest thing to do on a Saturday morning but my trail training during the week helped keep me focused and plough on ahead. We finished up with a short road run and accumulated 7.5km for the morning.
So as my first months real training comes to an end, I am feeling even more positive with my progress and all the small milestones I have completed. I am really looking forward to Kinvara where I think my competitive streak will kick in (hi Dave!). Next week I will be doing some speed work and interval training to balance out the distance training I have been doing so far.
Thanks for the support!
Bring it on!! - Dave
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