Junior Parkrun & the beginning of my Half Marathon Training plan

[Aftabs]

Hi all!

I had a good Parkrun yesterday and finished in 23:20. I am still getting back up to speed so wasn't going flat out.

Today is Junior Parkrun day and I went to our local run with my 4 year old daughter. When we woke up the weather was very grey and cloudy but the rain was forecast to start at 10am by which time the run would have been over. Last week Hafsa finished the 2km in 23 mins so our aim was to beat that time. I had to push Hafsa quite a bit last week because she found it hard. This week she decided when to walk, when to run and was a lot more enthusiastic. She only stood still once today and that was when she saw some nice white flowers and told me she wanted to stand and look at them for a minute! I reminded her that we were running and we can look at them when once we finish. She had a good sprint finish, which started earlier than last week and finished in 21 mins. So 2 mins off last week and she got a second medal!

Here is a link to Hafsa's run:

connect.garmin.com/activity...

That was my first run of the day, I dropped Hafsa back home and got ready for my first run of my Half Marathon training plan. A friend told me he is running in the Southend Half Marathon which got me researching the race and deciding to run it too. I used the Asics race time predictor and using my 5km PB it estimated that I should aim for a 1 hr 40 HM time, which seemed very optimistic to me. After seeking some advice from the Facebook C25K group and getting great encouragement I decided to aim for the time and put together a training plan accordingly.

So todays run was a 10km run, including 1km warm up and down and 8km in the middle at about 5:15 per km pace. As I was about to leave home the cloudy were darker and there was a bit of light rain with the forecast showing heavy rain to start within an hour. I decided not to wear my jacket because it was 12 degrees and I knew that I couldn't run at that pace if I overheated.

I had the run programmed into my Garmin and needed it to help me keep up with the required pace. Whenever my pace dropped the Garmin beeped and that was my cue to up my pace. I didn't have a problem with getting breathless but after 4kms my right calf was feeling a little stiff which made it hard to maintain the pace. I managed to keep up the pace but it required some effort. It was a relief when I got to the 10th km and could ease off. I finished my run with a km left to walk home and as luck would have it a downpour began, it was nice for a minute as it cooled me down but with the wind it quickly got unpleasant. So even though I was very tired I jogged back home!

So overall a very good morning! Here is a link to my run:

connect.garmin.com/activity...

[Beek Graduate]

Well done Hafsa - ANOTHER medal! She is so pretty and obviously proud, which she deserves to be! How lovely to be able to run with your little one. Happy days!

GOOD LUCK Aftabs for your training and event!

[Aftabs Graduate in reply to Beek]

Thanks Beek!

[Hidden]

Congratulations to you both. Another great week for both of you. I have to say I agree with your daughter though. While it's nice to run, I think it can be easy to forget about the world around us and think too much about PB's. I've often got inspiration from my environment when running and making time to appreciate nature is one thing I enjoy about running.

[Aftabs Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Thanks and I think we all need that kids outlook sometimes.

[ju-ju- Graduate]

She's so cute.. And a new medal.. Clever girl .. And great progress Aftabs.... I'm sure you'll nail it

[Aftabs Graduate in reply to ju-ju-]

Thanks JJ. She is proud of her medals! I think the 1 hr 40 is optimistic but I'll give it a good go.

[ChrisL Graduate]

Sounds like a good day. Care to share your HM training plan with us Aftabs?

[Aftabs Graduate in reply to ChrisL]

I have 6 weeks until the race and I'm planning on running four times a week. The plan steadily increases in intensity until the week before the event, when it tapers down. The run days are Tues, Thurs, Sat and Sun, with Tues and Sat being easier runs and the other two steadily increasing in distance and pace. I downloaded the plan from the asics website but tailored it so I'd run on the days above. The original plan didn't include running on Saturdays but I go to Parkrun each week and don't want to miss that. The asics plan doesn't actually have me running 13.1 miles before the HM, I may change that so I have a run at the full distance however I have run 13.1 miles as recently as 3 weeks ago and with the plan having me run 11 miles twice at full race pace, I may just stick with it.

[suzybenj Graduate]

Good start and lovely pic- high five to her

[Aftabs Graduate in reply to suzybenj]

I'll pass the high five along!

[janda Graduate]

Hi Aftabs. Long time no hear. I've not been on the site for a while but I'm still up with my running. Your times are great and your blog as inspiring as ever. You have a lovely daughter ... and a runner too, at such a young age.. I'm doing the Plymouth Half next Sunday with the same friend I did the Brentwood race in October and have another friend encouraging me to sign up for Run Hackney on 22 June. I'd have asked if you'd thought about that too but it may be a bit closer to the Southend Half. Good luck and happy running!

[Aftabs Graduate in reply to janda]

Thanks Janda! It's good to hear from you and I hope the Plymouth half goes well for you. I think the Hackney run would be too close to Southend so won't be able to make it. I'll be fasting in the month of Ramadan afterwards which will coincide with July so it'll be no running for me, I might look for a 10km and HM to do in October again, but never again in Weald park!

[janda Graduate in reply to Aftabs]

Thanks to you too. I agree that Hackney is too close to the Southend event and that Brentwood Weald Park is a no repeat!

[Realfoodieclub Graduate]

Great picture she looks really pleased with her pretty new medal. She obviously likes pretty things. A little reminder to us all to sometimes stop and smell the flowers. Good luck with your new training plan I am sure you are going to love it as much as everything you've done up till now.

[Aftabs Graduate in reply to Realfoodieclub]

Thanks!