Half Marathon Training Re-cap

Yesterday I was literally cold all day. ALL DAY sat in my office cold – huddled over my laptop hoping to absorb some of its heat. This is because I work with evil people men who never feel the cold. Men with thick skin and beards. OK only one has a beard, but that’s not the point. It might look a bit warmer and sunnier outside but it is still March and it is still Britain. The air con does not need to go into artic mode.

To rectify this (or at least try and get a bit warmer) I was drinking herbal tea like it was going out of fashion. God forbid I touch the air con to make it warmer. I get the Death Stare from like 10 men if I dare.

So I wanted to do a recap of my half-marathon training as it is now almost one week until race day. I feel confident and ready for it, but I am nervous. Nervous in a good, excited way though.

When I first signed up for the half-marathon it was quite scary. I think the longest run I’d ever done was 9 miles once. I rarely ran longer than 4 miles regularly as I’d been focusing on my strength training and just generally trying to keep to shorter sharper runs with intervals.

**I just want to add: I am no expert and this is what worked well for me. I do hope it helps people but please don’t think I’m dictating that this is the best and only plan. There’s probably a million better ways to train than this!**

With my training I vaguely following THIS plan:

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I think with all training plans you align them to what you can realistic achieve in a standard week and what works best for you. Straight away I changed the timings to be miles. So for a 40min run I’d see that as (at first) being about 4 miles and then later 5 miles. I prefer to hit miles rather than times and see how I improve through the weeks with beating previous run’s times.

I also found that I usually wanted to run more than 4 times a week so I added in another run. I think if I was to sum up what my usual week looked like it would be pretty much what I did this week:

Monday – 6 mile tempo run

Tuesday – 4 mile interval run

Wednesday – rest

Thursday – another 6 mile tempo run

Friday – 3 mile easy run

Saturday – 9 mile long run

At the beginning of my training, my tempo runs were shorter. A tempo run is basically maintaining a hard but controlled pace over a length of time. It’s not going max out but maintaining a pace which is tricky and gets you breathing hard. To begin with I could only run for a short period of time at that pace. As the weeks went on I increased the length of these runs and how long I could hold a hard pace became longer. Also the hard pace at the beginning of my training became less hard, and so my pace started getting quicker.

These are my times from Monday’s 6 mile tempo run:

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I tried to maintain a difficult pace (for me this is 7.30-7.45mins/mile) for at least 4 miles of the run. On the last mile I started slowing at the end as it just got too difficult to maintain and I didn’t want to rinse myself completely.

These runs generally were the runs I least enjoyed. They were hard and mentally tough to keep going. But I know that by doing these sorts of runs now means that my race pace (just under 8mins/mile) will feel easier.

I tried to do at least one interval run a week to purely work on speed. This is basically running max effort for a set time and distance (typically 400m/0.2miles). I’d run max out for a distance (at first it was barely the distance between lampposts) and then slow right down to a nice and easy pace. At the beginning I couldn’t do an interval run longer than 2 miles. It was just too hard. As I continued though the interval distances became longer, my actual pace became faster and I could maintain a longer run with these intervals. Here is my 4 mile interval run from Tuesday:

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It doesn’t look too different from the tempo run but remember these are averages. I ran flat out for around 0.2 miles at I’m guessing around 6.30min/mile, and then slowed right down again. And then repeated. I don’t use a heart monitor but the idea behind intervals is to get your heart rate up, and then down again.

These runs have been the best for increasing my speed.

I don’t think it’s necessary to have an easy run in your plan, but most weeks I had one. You could always do some other non-running work out or just take a rest day. For me, I love running and mentally I needed a run where I literally didn’t have to worry about the pace or times. I didn’t want every run to have to mean something. I certainly didn’t want running to be hard all the time. So my easy runs were just nice and simple running at a pace I was comfortable at. Today that was between 8mins and 8.30mins a mile for 3 miles.

The most important run of the week though is the long run. This is the one run you don’t skip. Before starting bigger distances (for me this was 8 miles plus) I was really worried about them. But after doing a few of them I started to find that these were my favourite runs. I always did them at the weekend after a good night’s sleep. I set my alarm for early-ish (weekend early, hello 8am) and it was a brilliant start to the weekend.

The long runs have been where I’ve had to learn the most. Most important advice (which I am still trying to learn): start slowly. You’ve got a long way to go and though it feels good at the beginning, that pace is not going to feel as good in 5-6 miles time. But importantly, just enjoy that run. Take it slowly, this isn’t where you need to prove your speed. This is where mentally and physically you need to get used to running for such a long time.

One of my friends asked me when I told her how long it took to run 12 miles: what do you think about for that long? Honestly, no idea. I let my mind wander: I plan things for the day or the next week, I work out what I’m having for lunch, I listen to a podcast, or I just take in the surroundings. It’s perfect ‘me’ time.

So tomorrow I have my last long run before the actual race. Though the plan says 6 miles race pace I’d rather do a longer run (9 miles) but slower. I don’t want to burn out because I know what I’m like. Also, I love my long runs!

And next week is tapering. No craziness. A shorter tempo at the beginning of the week, a short interval and then two easy runs.

I hope that was helpful for anyone training or just running in general. I stress again that this is what worked for me. I’m not saying that any other way of doing it is wrong. But I’ve honestly loved my training and I wanted to share my experience. It’s been hard as hell don’t get me wrong but these past weeks have improved my running hugely.

If you have any questions, let me know!

Or if you have a different way or doing things, please share them.

Or any running advice in general is always welcome.

Friday’s Randomocities

It’s Fridaaaaaaay. This week went by stupidly fast. I vividly remember those feelings of post-weekend blues and suddenly we’re back round again. I’m not sure this is a good thing to be rushing through life so quickly…But who cares because it’s Fridaaaaay!

I’m afraid this post is going to be a collection of randomocities. Not a word? Don’t care.

Randomocity #1: I work in a shared office block so there are other companies sharing the building. So there’s a lot of people I don’t know floating about the place (and stealing my mug, AGAIN). However, I know for a fact that someone famous has a sibling who works in one of the offices [I won’t reveal the famous person as I don’t think that’s fair on them]. Anyway, I went to get a drink and that person (not the famous person, the sibling) was there and they were talking to someone else and they mentioned their famous-sibling’s name. Does it make me a bad person that I took a lot longer at making my drink purely to hear this unadulterated bit of gossip? OK, it wasn’t actually that good but it was quite nice to hear about a famous person spoken in such a way that only a family-member could speak about them. Sorry that’s vague. Imagine: “Oh Brad now lives there with Angie” kind thing.

Randomocity #2: Do you have a person at work who is just annoying to everyone? So annoying it’s awkward. They don’t realise no one cares about their ‘ever so fascinating life’ and they do that lingering thing where they expect you to comment and acquiesce on their amazingness. Then you do that nodding thing while smiling and there’s an awkward silence and they’re STILL stood there.

Randomocity #3: I love to listen to depressing music sometimes just because sometimes it’s nice to feel a bit melodramatically sad. Lana Del Ray, Damien Rice…all good sources for melodrama. I think this also goes hand-in-hand with watching films that you know make you cry: City of Angels (all she did was go and buy pears…*sobs*) and Time Traveller’s Wife are perfect examples for me.

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Randomocity #4: I am excited about the next three consecutive meals. Dinner tonight is meatballs. Breakfast tomorrow is oatmeal (OK I am always excited about this). And tomorrow’s lunch is Nando’s with friends. I love me some chicken!

Randomocity #5: My oatmeal sludge (aka savoury oatmeal) looks a lot better in a bowl.

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Randomocity #6: Today I had an appointment with a physiotherapist as my knee has been painful while running. I find it amazing that she looks at the bottom of my running shoes and can judge how I run by the wear on the bottom. In my eyes it’s like reading tea leaves! I am always so impressed about how good these people are at diagnosing things. Thankfully she said it wasn’t serious, gave me a sports massage (so painful but so good) and has given me some exercises to do (apparently I have a very tight quad). And I can still run! Woohoo. Just no more stupid running.

Tonight Ben and me are looking forward to an evening of yummy meat balls and we’ve also bought some Ben and Jerry’s for an ice cream and movie night. The film of choice is Looper. The ‘ice cream’ is the Frozen Yogurt Chocolate Brownie – my absolute favourite. Ben has gone for the Vermonster – yeah like we were going to share!!

What are your plans for this weekend?

What’s your favourite Ben and Jerry’s?

Have you got a randomocity you wish to share?

A Little Change – WIAW

Hi guys, hope you’re all well. As usual, it’s What I Ate Wednesday. Check out Jenn’s blog to get involved or peruse other people’s exciting eats. I can’t promise mine will rock your world, but I certainly enjoyed them Smile

 

The theme is to get your veggies in and, to be honest, I never really have a problem with this. I’m a big vegetable fan (not you though, celery, you can stay back). Usually every evening meal is accompanied by a big serving of veg. Ben used to be shocked, but now he just expects it.

Breakfast is where I draw the line with veggies though. I just have my bog standard bowl of oats with almond milk, zapped up in a delightfully stodgy heap of deliciousness.

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Are you surprised? I literally don’t change. I literally haven’t changed this for about 8 years. I think I just like how simple it is to make, how filling it is and how much I love eating it. Why would I  change?

Lunch has been a different affair at work recently. Last week I had my usual monster tuna salad, Babybel and yogurt with fruit at work. It’s easier to throw together and I like it.

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However, I’ve been finding that I hit the afternoon and find myself feeling FAMISHED. I tend to have a banana and apple to bridge the gap between lunch and dinner and that used to be fine, but recently this hasn’t worked. I would drive home feeling not so great and in need of food. LIKE NOW.

I’m thinking it’s because I’m running more. I never used to run 5 times a week and never the mileage I’m doing now. Because I’ve crept the mileage up quite gently I haven’t really thought about increasing my food as well. Typing this now actually makes me feel stupid. It’s another “well duh Anna” moment.

Now you might have noticed, I’m not a huge carb lover. You can take your bread, your pasta, your rice…I’d much rather have protein or fat. Salads piled high with veg, cheese and chicken. Roasted vegetables with melted cheese. Chicken stews with a side portion of veg.

However, this isn’t working for me right now.

It’s annoying because I like what I eat. I don’t want to change, but let’s be sensible here. So for lunch at work I’ve swapped the tuna salad for a turkey bacon and cream cheese sandwich…

Lunch

…With a side portion of salad. I can change some things but not all! I also had fruit with Alpro soya yogurt and frozen fruit salad (that had nicely defrosted by lunch). This has definitely made me feel a bit better. I also adore the combination of bacon with cream cheese.

Then for dinner I tried something crazy (in Ben’s eyes). I attempted…savoury oatmeal. I was dubious going into this if I’m honest. I mean, I eat porridge every single morning and suddenly having it with chicken and vegetables. Well, that’s just weird…or is it?

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Yeah OK it doesn’t look great, does it? It looks pretty much like sludge. But! It tasted so good. It didn’t remind me of breakfast at all. It was just a completely different meal.

I based it on THIS recipe but added a few bits and pieces to make it a bit more filling for my new found hunger.

Chicken Savoury Oatmeal (aka Sludge for Dinner) (serves 1)

  • 1/2 cup (40g) quick-cook oats 
  • Garlic clove, diced
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 2 small mushrooms, chopped
  • 1/4 zucchini, chopped
  • 1 chicken breast, cut into chunks
  • 350ml (1 & 2/3 cup) chicken stock
  • 1tbs nutritional yeast

– Fry onions in a little oil for 5 minutes, then add garlic for a minute.

– Add chicken, mushrooms and zucchini and fry until chicken is cooked.

– While this is happening, cook the oats on the hob with the stock. Add more water if it looks too thick.

– Then combine all the ingredients together and add the nutritional yeast. Then serve when at the consistency you want.

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Yep, still sludge. But it tasted so good and was so filling.

Another meal I really enjoyed was Monday night. We had a lentil meal which we both loved (BBC Good Food recipe: Middle Eastern Chicken and Apricot Stew).

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Very simple to make and really flavoursome.

So, more carbs I hope you noticed. OK I didn’t go crazy – I didn’t chomp my way through a full-sized French baguette obviously. But I’ve been adding bits and pieces and adopting this pattern now throughout the week and my energy levels are so much better. I’m not a horrific beast when I get in after work (can you hear that sigh of relief from Ben??) Small changes!

Have you found that you needed to change what you were eating to compensate an increase in exercise?

What’s your favourite carb?

Have a great Wednesday!

Friday Randoms

It’s Friday! Woohoo! And it is really cold. Very frosty and chilly. But the mornings are lighter and the days are feeling longer. I thought I’d do a recap of the last few days and some random points I wanted to share.

Poor Ben, he pulled a muscle in his back on Tuesday evening…pulling on a jumper. Men! What are they like? He ended up being in agony. So the next day he took a day off work to try and recover but in the end he needed to go to the doctors. He couldn’t drive and I was at work so unfortunately he had to wait until Thursday when I could work from home.

I had a 5 mile run planned so got up early and did that Thursday morning and then we rushed straight out to get to the morning appointment. No time for a proper breakfast so this had to sustain me:

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Black coffee and banana. It placated the starving beast within for a short while…

#1 Random Point – does anyone else detest the doctors? I appreciated everything they do, don’t get me wrong. But I feel at risk of catching something at the actual place. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit paranoid and OCD about dirt and germs, but seriously I will never touch those magazines no matter how much the front cover is screaming at me. And everyone there just looks depressed and ill. It’s not a happy place (which I guess is to be expected).

Anyway, after Ben had seen the doctor he came out looking a bit sheepish. His back just required a bit of time to heal as it was ‘only’ a pulled muscle and nothing serious. Ben did tell me he used his appointment wisely though.

#2 Random Point – Ben decided to talk to the doctor about a whole list of issues he’s been experiencing – back unrelated – to make his trip “worth while” (e.g. he’s had a sore foot for a while). Men hate going to the doctors, so when they have to go it’s almost like they’ve saved up a list of problems so they don’t have to go back for another 10 years.

We then went home and I got on with some work. Alfie was a bit confused with my presence and I think a little bit annoyed that I wasn’t sat on the couch with him enjoying some Alfie-Anna time.IMG_3818

I was sat at our dinner table trying to focus. Then this happened:

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He jumped straight up on my lap as if to say “hellooo, remember me?” This makes using a lap top a bit tricky…

After giving him some snacks I managed to get him to fall asleep on the floor next to me so I could concentrate.

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More coffee.

#3 Random Point – coffee tastes so much better in your favourite mug.

Oh speaking of mugs. I do have a mug at work which I leave in the kitchen. Now I know it doesn’t exactly have my name on it but it does annoy me when in the morning I go to make a coffee and find it’s not there. THEN later in the day I see that culprit with it and making their drink in it. Rude. I mean seriously, is it not clear?

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Being at home, it was nice that I could have whatever I wanted for lunch. I had got myself in the mood for scrambled egg and cream cheese when I realised we only had two eggs, rather than my preferred three. So I rustled around and made myself a random combination of chicken, random veggies (carrots, mushrooms & spinach), plumbs, cream cheese and BBQ sauce.

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The sweetness of the plumbs and BBQ went well with the creaminess of the cream cheese. Not a bad meal!

In the evening, after doing the food shop, I had my scrambled eggs so I was happy. I had cream cheese, mushrooms (again) and onion.

#4 Random Point – I’ve only just discussed a brilliantly easy way of finely chopping onions without being a whizz chef with an amazing knife.

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By keeping one of the ends on it holds it all together so you can easily chop it. Many of you I imagine are now going “yeah, duh!” but I never knew this! [And I wanted to show off my favourite apple chopping board Smile]

#5 Random Point – we have so much cake still in our freezer it’s ridiculous.

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This is pretty much the entire bottom drawer full of cake. Cake from our wedding, cake from last Christmas and cake from the Christmas before.

Speaking of cake. I had an attack of the munchies on Sunday and decided it was time to kill my mini bride.

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This was the top tier of our wedding cake and it’s been sat just hanging around for ages .It’s fruit cake so it’s fine to last but those little people needed to go. As in, be eaten.

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Ben had his groom as well. I was quite hyped up on sugar after that…but it was definitely worth it. RIP, mini bride.

Right, so it’s almost the weekend – hurrah! Tomorrow I have my 12 mile run planned for the morning, then I drive to Bristol to meet up with my university friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. Then I drive back Sunday. Busy busy but lots of fun I hope!

What are you up to this week?

If you’re married, what was your cake like? Ours was lemon for one tier, vanilla and jam for the middle tier, and then fruit for the top.

Do you have a favourite mug? I have a favourite coffee mug and a favourite hot chocolate mug (which is huuuge, I like my hot chocolates super-sized!)

Moonlight running

Happy Monday all. Aren’t we all chuffed the weekend ended so quickly and we’re back to Monday again. No? Yeah me neither.

I feel shattered today. Just completely drained. I should have listened to my body this morning and not run. I did a 10 mile run (first time ever!) on Saturday morning and I don’t think I’ve fully recovered. But I pushed myself to get up early (5.45am, gargh!) and ran 6 miles.

It was hard work. Harder than the 10 miles can you believe! And because I tried a different route I ended up running down a very long stretch of road that had no street lights. Literally like running with my eyes closed. The only light came from the moon! And the occasional car. It was really quite scary. In the end I used my IPhone to light up the ground so I could see where I was running and also to make myself known to any cars flying past.

I managed to completely it in just over 48 minutes so I’m happy with the speed but I didn’t feel particularly good afterwards. I just felt drained. I had planned to run 5 miles tomorrow but I’ve decided against it. Just need to let my body recover and get back up to 100% again. I definitely do not want to have an injury.

Anyway, Maria from Running Cupcake nominated me for the Liebster Award and I know I’ve already done this but I do love the survey style blogs…So I thought I’d do this my own way and simply answer the questions Maria posed.

1. Ideal holiday destination? I like a bit of an adventure and activity, so maybe travelling around somewhere in East Asia as I’ve never been there before and I think it would be exciting. I’m not a lay-on-the-beach-and-do-nothing kinda girl so I need some sort of activity or adventure.

2. Favourite weather? Without doubt WARM SUMMER weather. Weather that you don’t need a coat, umbrella or wellies for.

3. Coffee or tea? Ooooh. I prefer black coffee in the morning but then black tea with milk later on. I think I’d have to say tea as that includes peppermint and I love peppermint.

4. What magazines do you read? Runners World, Zest, Good Food, sometimes Glamour. I don’t tend to buy a lot of magazines though on a regular basis.

5. Favourite place to eat out at? A Jamie Oliver restaurant. But normally a nice pub with a good menu (ideally with a mezze platter…mmm hummus).

6. Favourite show to see? Erm, I’m not sure. I don’t tend to go to see shows that often. Maybe something like Billy Elliot would be good.

7. Would would you order in my cafe? (Bearing in mind I mainly serve tea and baked goods). So I would obviously have tea then! Haha. White, no sugar. And a big slice (unashamedly HUGE) of Victoria sponge cake. Or maybe a big scone with a dollop of jam and clotted cream.

8. Do you prefer to exercise alone, or in a class, or with other people? I like having a run on my own and setting my own pace for most of the time but I do enjoy running in a group. The time passes quickly and it’s nice to keep each other going. But in terms of meeting certain targets and pacing myself well, it has to be by myself.

9. Favourite meal? Arghh, this is too difficult! OK, probably a big rack of sticky BBQ ribs and sweet potato fries. Inside me there’s a fat girl trying to get out Winking smile But a ‘normal’ everyday meal at the moment is my new found pumpkin and pineapple chicken meal.

10. What is your favourite thing about blogs (writing or reading)? I love the community and the knowledge share. I would never have found out about cauliflower mash or foam rolling or pacing for runs. I love it when you get some lovely comments as well. I am always so chuffed when someone writes something lovely on one of my posts.

11. What will do to celebrate your birthday this year? Probably go out for a nice meal with my family. Good food, good company.

Oops just realised this blog has no photos. Hmmm. Let me see.

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There we go. That’s better. A tired Alfie after a long day of doing nothing. It’s a hard life being a dog!

Do you avoid running when it’s dark?

Answer one of the questions above if you like, I love finding out more about my readers!