Training plan

12 weeks and counting: The Eden half marathon is getting worryingly close!  Probably a good time to put a proper training plan in place then…  I’ve been ‘doing a bit of running’ over the last few months (8 miles being the furthest I’ve run), but I feel the need to stick to something more structured now; I want to be able to tick things off along the way and know I’m actually getting somewhere.  There’s been a bit of bickering amongst the small group of us who’ve been training together, rumblings about the best way to go about it – someone wants to do the same mid-length run on the same circuit to develop stamina, someone else wants to run slower (to ‘fat-burn’) with more variation, and me, well I don’t know really.  I guess I want to gain some stamina, speed and strength (nothing much ).  Since the others have decided to follow their own ideas (no, no compromise!!) I thought I might as well sort out exactly what it is I want to do, bearing in mind what I’m actually aiming to achieve by doing this in the first place (errr – I think I may have forgotten that one, can you remind me please?!).  I thought the best place to start would be at the local bookshop and found this one by Sam Murphy – in the nick of time really since there’s a 10 week half-marathon training programme that looks pretty good for me to follow.  It’s got lots of variety, one long run a week, plenty of hill and interval training; what else could a girl want?  Actually, don’t get me started on that one…

Eden's on the calendar...

In her wisdom, one of my training partners decided it would be good for me to run a short race before Eden and has very rashly signed us up for the Tywardreath (pronounced tie-war-dreth) Trotter 7 mile race.  I sort of agreed, it might be a good idea to see what it’s like to run with hundreds of other people around me and to experience the atmosphere.  But then, I didn’t realise it was so soon: it’s next Saturday.  That’s right, 1 week away.  I’m not panicking or anything.  No.  I haven’t run a race since school (which was literally decades ago) and I was rubbish at it then, but it’s only 7 miles so there’s nothing to worry about really is there?  Er, well I wasn’t worrying until I took a look at the times last year’s competitors did it in. OMG!  That’s all I’ve got to say on the matter.  Oh, and can someone make sure there’s an ambulance round about the third mile mark please.

If you don’t hear from me for a few days, you’ll know why.  I’ll either be hiding from Jacqueline or in a heap in a corner somewhere exhausted from all the training.  By the way, does anyone know whether chocolate is a good source of carbs…

love Stephie x