Getting there- Week 11 Half Marathon Training.

There are no hills...repeat..there are no hills.

• Monday March 28th Inferno Hot Pilates. 

• Tuesday 29th Running Chicks group run 7km at 37:12. 

• Saturday April 2nd 14km at 80:24.

• Sunday April 3rd Running Chicks group run and hill work 7km at 39:54.

Once again I started my week with a punishing Hot Pilates class at Strand Fitness. I am constantly torn between how hard the classes are but also how addictive it can be. It is the best feeling to finish all the reps and not give in to the heat and my spindly arms that almost refuse to hold my body up during planks, push ups and mountain climbers. Yet I've noticed that I'm not as sore as I used to be after class, so it seems I am getting stronger as I progress! Barry has also opened a new gym beside the existing Pilates studios and I had been toying with the idea to join his bootcamp but the half is priority right now I'll have to survive that first!

Strand Fitness website

On Tuesday I did my  group run with the Running Chicks through the woods. I love these runs as it gives me a chance to get my short runs done during the week in preparation for my weekends long runs. Michael and Ann are amazing coaches, they are so knowledgeable and are constantly offering advice and support. My favourite tip from Ann is the runners blow, for getting rid of the snot buildup (so ladylike)  in your nose! (TMI? GROSS!). 

I didn't go out again until Saturdays group run, where we were doing a 14km loop of town. This time I had a couple of the girls to keep me company. We decided to try a different route with a mixture of back roads and on the main road. I am not a huge fan of new routes as I always feel like I have run longer than I actually have, when we realised we had only done 7km we were devastated! We philosophied that we were half way home and pushed on! 

Along the way we chatted about pre workouts and protein supplements. Since I have been taking neither of those things and I am also vegetarian I got some good advice about plant based protein like spirulina, chlorella and some vegan options, I also got some good advice regarding electrolytes which turned out to be a life saver in my week 12 training.

We finished up with track laps absolutely exhausted and I was stoked to have lost almost 3 minutes off my 14km time the week before. Progress!

On Sunday I met up with the Running Chicks again, this time to do some hill work at the back of the woods. We started off on a 3km warm up before moving onto the hills of doom. 

To be fair it wasn't as bad as I thought. I had been doing the hills a couple of times a week a couple of months ago so I knew what to expect. Ann gave us some great tips including using our arms and our core moreso than our legs to drive up up the hills and I have to say it made a huge difference, my legs weren't as fatigued and I wasn't breathing as heavily as I would usually would on hills. I left the session feeling swamped with information but optimistic! 

Week 12 includes my experience with dehydration, because I'm an idiot!
Stay tuned!