Bath Half Marathon - almost giving up!

At the weekend I hit the wall. Not literally (though that wouldn’t surprise many of you who know who accident prone and uncoordinated I am). No, I hit the runners wall. The mental block where I couldn’t get past a certain amount of miles. I despaired, vowed to quit and flopped on the sofa with a tub of icecream.

Hang on, I will back up a bit, and fill you in on the half marathon training and gym sessions so far!

I had been feeling pretty pleased with myself, as I thought training was going well. I could comfortably run three miles, and at the end felt I could carry on a bit. I was not setting any records for speed, completing my nice safe little route along the sea front in about 35 minutes. But I felt good, and positive that I would be able to complete the demanding 13 miles with more training.

Gym seemed to be going ok as well. Though I now understand people that have told me running on a treadmill is really boring. When I first started training for the half marathon I thought I would prefer to run inside on the treadmill, away from cars, pedestrians and the unpredictable British weather. However 40 minutes later I had listened to almost all the songs on my iPod and I was bored! This taught me two things - 1. I need to buy more songs for my iPod, and 2. I needed to run outside.

Along with cardio training and weights at the gym I went to my first Legs, Bums and Tums class with my friend Ams. To be honest I don’t really know what I was expecting, maybe a relaxed class with some funky moves and a bit of stretching? Well, couldn’t be further from the truth! This class was hard...with a capital H! But I found myself enjoying it (while sharing painful looks with Ams when the flexible instructor showed us what to do!) Afterwards I hurt, but it was a good pain, and I knew I had done a good workout! I plan to go to this class every Wednesday now, to work on strengthening and toning.

So we come to Sunday, when inspired by my recent workout success I decided to put myself to the test and complete a further run. Four or five miles will be no problem - I thought. I also decided to mix it up a bit, and follow a completely different route. I set off, and was keeping a good pace. I started to flag about half way round, and thought this must be because I had passed over the three mile mark. However, on checking my pedometer I was annoyed to see that I had actually only run three miles! I felt very down heartened, and sat on a bench for a rest, quickly deciding that I would never be able to do it, and what was the point?!

After walking home my mood went further downhill. I felt gutted that I had not been able to run far, and also annoyed about the amount of training I had put in at the gym. My main goals when joining the gym were to get fit, and to tone up. I couldn’t see any difference in my figure or fitness, even though Joe insisted it was working. In my mind nothing had changed, and I was putting all this effort in for nothing.

The next day, when I had time to calm down and think rationally I decided that I was not a quitter and I would complete the half marathon! A quick stop at a sports shop to buy pretty new running clothes and a pep talk from London marathon runner Sarah helped boost my mood, and I am now more determined than ever to do this!

So my aims for the next few months of training are:
*Do one (two if I have the time) short run in the week, of around three miles, following my nice little route along the seafront so I build up confidence.
*Do one longer run at the weekend, slowly building up the distance.
*13 miles is a long way, but it is also a long way off. Focus on the 10k run I am doing in July, and train for that first (thanks Sarah for tip!)
*Don’t beat myself up if I need to stop for a rest on the way round the longer runs, or walk for a bit. I will still be covering more miles.
*Carry on with cardio training and building up strength in the gym. Legs, Bums and Tums each Wednesday and trying some new classes. Ams has already got me booked in to try TRX and kettlebells (gulp).

So there you go! Wish me luck and keep following my progress here!