Half way through week 3 of HM training and signed up for a 5K race on Sunday!

[Redcello41]

Just got back from my mid-week 6.4K (4 miles) run with two of my friends and I really enjoyed it! I am definitely noticing myself getting stronger and my normal 'slow' pace has got faster naturally (if that makes sense) and I can sustain faster paces for a bit longer now too! But what I don't understand is that I only got three hours of sleep last night and my run felt great and I felt like I could run a lot longer that 4 miles (I even sprinted the last 100 metres!), but on some nights which I get eight hours sleep, my runs feel like a lot more effort!

I am also running in a 5K Santa Fun Run for Dorothy House on Sunday! Not sure about the whole dressing up thing but at least it's for a good cause! But do I run my first run of week 4 of HM training the day after though? It's only 3.2K (2 miles) and I figured it would be a good gentle recovery run. Or should I wait and run it on Tuesday instead? Advice anyone?

[misswobble Marathon]

Yes you can Some plans call for that as a routine. Say, the longer Sunday run followed by a Monday short recovery run

If you’re doing longer training runs you can afford to keep the pace down. Run smart and conserve energy. if you have legs at the end you can put a spurt on if you wish

You’re in the early stages so take care 🙂

Oh I forgot. Check out Roeabi’s half marathon post today. It’s all there 👍

[Redcello41 Half Marathon in reply to misswobble]

Yeah there's a few weeks in my HM training plan which I have to run 4 times a week and the middle two runs are a 7 miles run and then a 2/3 mile run the day after then there is a rest day and then a 10 mile long run! But that's the latter half of the training plan so I will be building up to that 😃

[AnnaKarenina Metric Marathon]

I think the relatively short distance and a gentle pace would see you okay if you can't be flexible, but I much prefer a day between runs if I can manage it. I do run consecutive days if there is no option but try to leave as long a gap as I can e.g. wait until the evening if I ran in the morning the previous day. However if I can make it work, I always like a bit of a gap. Someone said to me that I should remember that the rest days are as much part of the marathon training plan as the run. I do try to hang onto that when I can.

You're doing really well - so dedicated!

[misswobble Marathon in reply to AnnaKarenina]

Rest days are important to us as that’s the day when running legs get built. Slow running and rest days build legs

Resr and recuperation are important to the process. Try and get plenty of sleep 💤 too

[Redcello41 Half Marathon in reply to misswobble]

Yes I usually follow the run day - rest day religiously but I very occasionally have a week in which I have to run consecutive days unfortunately. And sleep is so important so will keep a better eye on that! 😃

[Redcello41 Half Marathon in reply to AnnaKarenina]

Thank you! Yes I usually push my training to the day after so I can have a rest day but my schedule for the latter half of next week won't allow me to do that this time round, so I think I will do the 5K race (I won't overly push myself, there are plenty of other 5K races I will be running in in the future) and then take the 2 miles run the day after at a really slow easy pace and if I really have to walk some of it! 😃

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

There are so many factors that affect our runs - you must have got everything else just right, even though you were short on sleep. It may also be that the quality of the sleep you did get was exceptionally good - that counts for a lot in comparison with a long but restless sleep. Personally I like to keep a minimum of one rest day between runs. I would shift everything along a day, or skip one of the shorter runs in my plan if I didn't have the space to shift it along. But right now I'm being overly paranoid/cautious so it may not be necessary for you so long as you keep it gentle

[Redcello41 Half Marathon in reply to linda9389]

Yes I agree, my schedule won't allow me to move everything along next week unfortunately so I think I will do the 2 mile run the day after at a super slow easy pace and listen to my body. 😃