Happy Sunday everyone! This is the first in a series of posts about my Bath Half Marathon training, I will be posting weekly updates for you all ~ ups and downs! Training through the winter is tough with the dark nights and dark mornings so hopefully you can pick up some tips along the way.
I am following a my asics training guide which is personalised. You pop all your data into the website and it creates a training plan for you. I though this was great as it gives you realistic goals and targets, I know how far I have to run and when. It also gives you pace guidance for each run too. My first three weeks looks like this...
You can either use the app which goes with the plan or log your runs manually like I am. I love using the Nike+ running app so don't want to start using a different one. I will be following it as closely as I can, of course I may have to swop a few runs around to fit in with Christmas. My first 10 mile run is scheduled for the weekend after Christmas, this is either an excellent way to run off the Christmas food or a form of torture... I haven't decided yet!
My runs this week were good, I felt stronger as I progressed through the week and I can feel my stamina increasing again. I can see next week being a little tougher as I have three 4.5 mile runs to fit in! On my non-running days I have been getting in my yoga practice, I love these days as I feel it is important to stretch and restore your mind, body and soul. I have been following a handstand challenge on Instagram for November which has been fun. I find inversions help me focus on that moment and clear my head ~ it's also a great core workout! Yoga helps to prevent injuries from running as well so don't under estimate the importance of a good stretch!
I also joined the local leisure centre gym this week which was a little scary for me as it's something that I wouldn't normally do. The best part is that not only do I get full use of the gym and pool but I also get all my classes included as well! I am going to try to fit in two yoga classes a week, gym for the runs through the week and then I can do my long runs outside at the weekend. They also open at 6:15am Monday to Friday which is perfect for me as I tend to workout in the early morning.
I am running Bath Half to raise money for the Katie Piper Foundation. You can read more about it and donate here.
Good luck with your training! I've done 2 half marathons this year, the first one was HARD, not gonna lie. But it probably didn't help that the furthest I ran before it was 10 miles haha.
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