With roughly 4 weeks to go before I take on the challenge of completing my first half marathon I wanted to reflect on my training and mindset as if I’m being completely honest the preparation for the event has taken some enjoyment away from running for me.
Personally, I perform my best physically and mentally when I can just get up and go anytime between 6:00-7:00am. Unfortunately (and I mean unfortunately purely for training purposes) this is only possible for me once a fortnight as Ryan leaves for work at 5:30am 6 days a week and obviously I have Brody and Millie to take care of.
When I first started preparing for the half marathon last year, I found it so interesting that all training programs I came across encouraged you to never actually run the full distance of the half marathon before race day as the required recovery would interfere too much with the training program. Some blogs that I came across when researching the best training programs build up to running 6 days a week which is just not possible for my current situation regarding time and my physical capability.
I have managed to stay consistent with running at least 3 times per week, occasionally 4. As my research has suggested I vary the distance of my runs to incorporate a 5km on Monday, 5-7km run on Wednesday and 10km run on Saturday. The Wednesday distance usually varies as up until now my routine with the kids and babysitter availability had meant I could only run in the afternoons and during the peak of summer this has proved to be rather challenging. I’m therefore averaging 22km’s across the week.
I mentioned earlier that I have lost some enjoyment in running at the moment and that is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, I am a huge advocate for listening to your body however I have been ignoring this lately mainly to ensure I get my 22km’s in each week. Saturday is my preferred day for my long run of 10km as I then have Sunday to rest and recover for 5km on Monday. Unable to run on Saturday last weekend I made up for it by completing 10km’s on Sunday.
Monday morning, I woke with an extremely sore right hip and debated if I should train or not. Realizing my next training day wouldn’t be till Wednesday I set off on my run with excruciating pain in my right hip and thigh. Eventually I listened to my body and decided to cut my run down to 3km and focus on some stretching. Forcing myself to train through pain and get my weekly km’s up is starting to make running feel like a chore as opposed to a passion which it has never felt like before.
Secondly, I have been listening to a podcast while running which really takes my mind off the distance however it is also providing conflicting information as several episodes have discussed that the human body is not naturally built for endurance activities rather more functional movements. The information is certainly pulling my attention which I feel is starting to shift my view on lonngggggg distance running; however, as I have come this far with my training I’m going to save further research into this topic till after race day.
Part of my training for this half marathon has felt like an experiment as I have been working out the best apparel to wear on race day. I have been testing singlets, t-shirts, crop-tops, leggings, shorts, socks and runners as my research suggests you shouldn’t wear something you haven’t worn before. I can’t imagine running for a couple of hours with socks that rub or perhaps shorts that ride up.
Over the next 4 weeks as race day approaches, I will be focusing my attention on what I should be fueling my body with during the half marathon and I will start a trial and error process with incorporating certain substances into my training sessions.
Last year my sister Courtney and I had registered to do the event together and I was absolutely shattered when I was unable to run due to having the stroke. My champion sister completed the run for both of us and I am so proud of her effort. As soon as I decided that I was going to run this year Courtney also registered and will be running by myside for the 21.1km which is truly inspiring.
Over and over again I have referred to the positive impact expressive writing has had on my mental state during my recovery process and as I have written this blog it has honestly worked again. When I started typing this, I was associating a negative emotion towards my running and as I finish reflecting I am faced with my new perspective on life and health and I’m so grateful that I am able to train and even consider running the event only 12 months post stroke and surgery.
1 month to go – lets do this!