ROYAL PARKS HALF MARATHON
I’m doing it…eeek!
But it’s not just me, a team of Mums and Dads I know locally are joining me in this years Royal Parks Half Marathon in October and this week we started our 12 week countdown training plan.
We are running in honor of our friend Nels Mum, Nancy, who sadly passed away last year from Leukemia. Although some of the team managed to get a race place through the Ballot, the rest of us are running for Cancer Research UK.
My training plan is based on a Hal Higdon plan mixed in with my own Run Club and Run Fit Strength & Circuit Sessions. I’m personally really excited to get going and ready to run! It makes it even better that there is a team of us too.
I’ve only run in one half marathon before now back in 2007 when Kevin and I traveled to Switzerland and ran the Swiss Alpine Davos 21k with our friends Matt & Sue who live in Canada. It was an incredible race and a memorable one at that! To say it was a ‘hilly’ run is an understatement! That was back in the days pre Little L’s so fitting in training was a little easier, especially the long runs. This time, I’ve created the plan and negotiated my long run time with the family – it’s the only way it will get done 🙂
FUELING MY TRAINING
Nutrition is a big part of the training plan, so here’s the nutrition from yesterday and today so far:
BREAKFAST
Monday
1/2 cup Oats, 1/2 cup Semi Skimmed Milk & a cup of Strawberries and Blueberries
Tuesday
2 Slices Wholegrain Toast with Peanut Butter, sliced Banana and Chia Seeds & a Latte (eaten in the car…!)
LUNCH
Monday
1 Cup wholegrain rice with Mixed salad (rocket, spinach, avocado, cucumber, tomato, red onion) and 1/2 can of Tuna drizzled with Olive Oil and Red Wine Vinegar
Tuesday
Puy Lentil Salad with Rocket, Spinach, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Red Onion & a crumbling of Blue Cheese. Dressed with Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil & Soy sauce.
DINNER
Monday
Oven Baked Salmon Fillet with Rocket, Roast Butternut Squash, Roast Red Onion, Roast Garlic & Puy Lentil Salad, dressed with Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil, Soy sauce, Red Chilli, Garlic.
Tuesday
Chilli for a crowd….none of my photos yet as I’ve not made it! I’ll post it tomorrow, click the link for a sneak peak & I’ll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.
Snacks have made their way into the diet too – yesterday it was Almonds and Raspberries and today was Almonds and sultanas. Lots of water is key too, so I’ve made sure I’ve been drinking plenty, especially as it’s hot. Today I tried it with some cucumber in too, it was great!
TRAINING SO FAR
So yesterday was my first run on the new schedule. I’m really having to squeeze things in as I work with my own training clients most mornings from 6am until 1pm and most evenings from 7-9pm. Between 1-7pm I have the little L’s to entertain and although they run around a lot….they can’t quite make a ‘long run’ around the neighbourhood just yet!
So yesterday I got home from work at 12.30pm and figured it would be the only 25 minutes I’d get all day to squeeze in my training. I headed out of the door and ran two laps around the block to warm up (5 mins) and then mapped out a 400m stretch of road and repeated a 400m run (fairly fast!) with a 300m walk recovery and a 100m slow jog 5 times, a quick jog home to cool down and I jumped in the car to get the little ones…phew! It was a hot one too:) There wasn’t much time to stretch but I did make time for it when I got home.
Somehow, during the session, I manged to hurt two of the toes on my left foot though, so today has been a rest day – with lots of icing of my foot 🙁 – and I’m going to do some recovery Foam Roller Stretching this evening when I get in.
Anyway, I’ll keep you posted, not just on my progress but that of the team too!
Have a great evening 🙂
If you’ve run a half marathon before do you have any training tips? leave a comment below and we may use it in our plan!
