A week and a bit to go!

Well this is it really! I am on the last page of the Intermediate Half Marathon training plan. I did my last BIG run on Sunday before the big run at the Gold Coast in 10 days.

I am strangely calm because I know I can't do any more. There's only 6 more runs to go - a mix of short sprint sessions (LOL - I can't sprint to save myself) and a few longer 'comfortable' runs. It is so dark these mornings getting up at 5 and just a bit chilly, but yesterday was Winter Solstice so its only longer days from here on in!

I know now that I will be able to finish (I did 20.5ks on Sunday) and hopefully around 2:15 all going well. Unfortunately the main thing I am worried about is my guts-ache afterwards! I was OK this weekend (maybe the Endura I forced down afterwards) but the weekend before when I ran with Maddi and Dan again, was the absolute worst I'd ever been. I couldn't enjoy our brunch together afterwards and was literally on and off the toilet for hours afterwards and in excruciating pain. So unfair...I really want to enjoy our celebrations together so I'll be hoeing into the Imodium as soon as we cross that line.

After my run this time I also did something I've been intending to do for a few weeks to help with the leg pain and sat in the cold pool a la Hoffy a while back. A teeth chattering experience to say the least! Who knows if it helped or the Panadol I had to help me sleep that night.

I have done something I may just regret too - I have registered for the Jetty to Jetty 1/2 marathon which is 2 weeks after the GC. It SHOULD be OK because it is the same track that I have been doing my long training runs on.  But then.......I have registered for the Brisbane 1/2 marathon which is only 3 weeks after that one! OMG what have I done?

COMMIT - that's what I've done! I don't want to lose all this running fitness that I've gradually built up and I am quietly terrified of putting my weight back on.
The latest Runners World mag has a great plan for breaking the 2:00 1/2, so that is the goal I have set for Brisbane. 7 weeks.

The journey continues

It's now only 4 weeks to the Gold Coast half marathon. My training has gone well by sticking (mostly) to the plan and I have been very fortunate by not sustaining any injuries - that's one club I do NOT want to join. Sorry to all those who have been struggling, it must be tough.

I should be doing runs of some description 3 days a week, but I tend to do 3 solid runs plus a boxing session once a week to really kick butt (or the bag) - love it. My weights sessions have really fallen by the wayside, so I will try and get back into them again this week.

Today was a huge achievement for me, running for 2 whole hours. Lefty drove me over to Redcliffe and I ran along the beach the whole way. SO much nicer than trudging around the streets at home, with a nice gentle breeze to keep me cool. Speaking of keeping cool I have decided it was definitely dehydration/mega sweats that was causing my terrible tummy cramps post long runs. I still get a bit painy but certainly not in a debilitating way. I have also started using gels with the long runs which is interesting in itself (swallowing thick sticky glug while trying to breath and force it down with some water, while trying to breath!)

Lefty had his books to read in the car and he kept driving down and parking in sections long the way which was quite funny. Poor Lefty wishes he could be running with me but his knees are shot from all the running and footy playing he did in his 20s. It's just so weird that its me running now, at such an age.

2 weeks ago I ran in a similar place with Maddi and her ironman Dan. That was really cool - Dan was very supportive, encouraging and informative. It's great to learn from real athletes (better late than never!). Maddi really fired that day with a big surge at the end (AND she had bleeding toes), whereas I fell flat at the end and got all uptight and anxious, struggling to put one foot in front of the other....the thought of running for another 5ks to make it 21 just seemed all too much. I hadn't felt all tight in the throat and chest like that for a long time and it freaked me out a bit, like a big step backwards.

I'm just so relieved that I truly believe I can do this now and I may even finish under 2:15! I am going to register with a pacer when I pick up my pack in a few weeks, which I hope is a good thing to do?

Kirsty has made up some great singlets for all the 12wbt/Twitterers who are running in the GC 1/2 and full mara which is really cool. I can't wait to see everyone - and there are a few I haven't had the chance to meet in real life yet! 

Oh - and there was that wonderful weekend in Melbourne!