How are you getting on with your training? Tell us all about it!!!
My tip this time is basically to remind yourselves that YOU ARE AWESOME! 🤩
So, why not treat yourself?
It's a great idea to reward yourself in some small way for the hard work you have put it! Sure, we all realise that the running is reward enough in itself! 😁 But on a cold winter morning before work and home-schooling begins, it certainly doesn't hurt to give yourself a little extra incentive!
And it doesn't have to involve cake!! Here are some of the things I look forward to. How do YOU treat yourself?
★ A lovely hot shower
★ My lunch! And some cake 😄
★ I get to sit down
★ A coffee, hot chocolate, or a crisp and fruity IPA 😊
★ That runner's high!
★ My stats 😁
★ Another tick on the list
It doesn't even matter if a run didn't go to plan, you got outside and got sweaty!! You did it and it all adds up in the end. Also, I completely understand that not everyone has time to sit down and have a coffee after their run, so I hope that you folk are saving up for some bigger treats - y' know, the shoe-shaped kind... 😍
Hi roseabi , I’m planning my 1st 1/2 marathon in the spring, I have my plan which will be flexible round the current atrocious weather we are having. I did think about joining you all and have just had a quick peek at the spreadsheets. I realised really quickly having my name on the list, or indeed even looking at the spreadsheet again is a bad idea for my. Although not fast I do like to cover decent monthly totals and I’m so competitive I’d be trying to get to the top of the board on distance. The 2020 challenge in December was bad enough and that was just a short time scale🤣🤣 however I wish everyone all the very best whatever stage you are at and I promise to do my own thing and not look at the spreadsheets again. Happy running everyone 🤗
Ha, now I’m the opposite to you GH. I love to see my name on a spreadsheet, and I get raging FOMO if I don’t join in. 😩 I’m not in the slightest bit competitive either, except with myself. 😀
Happy HM training! Let’s hope the weather bucks up for us all - no more snow for you, no more mud for me! 🏃♀️🏃♀️
Thank you. We are too low for snow but hubby ran up to the tip of the nearest hill yesterday to find some, all gone now. Fields and tracks completely flooded for miles around. Just as well I'm happy road running
The only place you will see monthly totals for the Half Marathon group is in the associated Strava club, we have the spreadsheets simply to store lists of the group members, and their planned events, so we can keep up with them!
The purpose of this group is to share advice and progress, and give support xxx
Thank you, count me in then. I have a plan of sorts but it is weather dependent and I can't guarantee i wont just make one of my long runs the full distance if everything is fitting in place, that's how i got to 10 miles🤣🤗
Hi roseabi and lovely running friends! I’m coming to the end of week 5 of my HM training plan. My long run this week was 14K on Wednesday. Luckily I wasn’t working so managed to delay it until the worst of the weather had passed over!🙂I’m doing the virtual London Winter Run on Sunday in Bognor. The forecast isn’t too bad so hopefully it’ll be OK🙂🤞
I haven’t got a long run in my training plan for next week, but I’ll be doing intervals instead. 🏃♂️💥💪 Let’s hope the weather isn’t as bad as it’s predicted. I think we should be OK by the seaside as it’s that little bit warmer.
Thanks Roseabi, I’m pleased how things are going🙂👍 The Vitality Big Half in London at the end of April might even happen, so that would be 3 HMs within a month! 😳
So I have managed to get in a 7k, which is progress of a kind. I have also got a physio appointment for a week on Tuesday and the calf issue seems to be diminishing. Then I look at the local weather forecast which says we will have six days of snow starting tomorrow afternoon. I don't think any even medium term plan is robust enough to cope with that little lot. So for now it is a case of keep plodding on and doing what is possible, and hope for a better March! Operation Stoic I think!! 🙂
Thanks CC. Sensible eventually clicks in when everything else has been explored and failed; duh!! I was tempted to go for a 10k, but the calf, a bit of common sense and a lack of fitness (the bit which winds me up the most), stopped me. I have been finding loads of new routes recently (because I have been limited to roads). Maybe stuff like cambers or the hard surfaces, or the fact that every run is a bit of a hill run now, are playing a part. Who knows?? Hopefully the physio will! Exercises call............🥵
Discretion is definitely the greater part of valour when it comes to both weather and injuries! My son is very sad that we haven't had any snow here on the coast but seeing the problems people are having elsewhere I do recognise I'm lucky from a running point of view. Hope you're back out again soon.
Hi HM buddies! My treat is Cadbury’s Mini Eggs. When I run, I’m allowed some. (We’ll conveniently forget today’s bag shall we? 🙄)
Just checked my HM plan and I don’t have a long run this week either, which is probably a good thing as it’s going to be 🥶 I don’t think we’ll get snow, at least I hope we don’t. 🤞🤞
Spring can’t come soon enough as far as I’m concerned. I can’t wait to be back in short sleeved shirts and shorts or capris, complaining about the heat again!
Happy with my progress so far following an NRC manual plan. I was sceptical about the guided runs but I’m starting to enjoy them. Tomorrow is a 12.5K Long Run if I can find a dryish spot during the day. Good to be reminded to have a treat perhaps a glass or two of wine tonight.
I've really got into the NRC guided runs, most recently the 90 minute run and the sneaky speed one, both of which I can thoroughly recommend. I haven't tried one of their plans though, are they good?
Until earlier this year they did plans in the app, which I really liked, however, they no longer do these. The plan is now a pdf on their website (search for NRC half-marathon), it’s a 14 week plan which has 5/6 recommended guided runs a week. I have selected 3 runs a Recovery, Speed and Long Run and used the recommended guided run. I’d prefer the in app plan but will keep going with the pdf version. 😀
Hello! I've been below the radar, lurgy hit and messed up by New Year programme and now I'm injured! Was a bit down about it to start with, but possibly a blessing in disguise as I HAVE to rest from running for at least a couple of weeks, maybe three, and so it's forcing me to get back on track with flex, strength and core work which I had ignored for a while (and which is probably why I got injured....) . I was supposed to be doing the London Winter 10k this Sunday, but no can do. Shame.
So, focussing on the home workouts, and when I am back on the road, hoping the weather improves a bit, I can recommence HM training to achieve late Spring! First aim is "Run Everyone" in lieu of March Cambridge Half, a month long challenge which I am doing as part of a virtual team of four, so good focus for post injury and for that to kick start the training in earnest!
As for a treat? Glass of wine with my fish and chips this evening! My grandad would turn in his grave, being a good Yorkshireman it should be a cup of tea but sorry, Gramps, it's Friday, it's Lockdown 3, so it's vino!
Yes most definitely rewards make it fun. Even something as minor as a hot coffee at the end of a crappy run somehow makes it worthwhile :). I love destination runs too. Like running to a bakery at the halfway mark
I've just requested to join the Strava group and started my 12 week plan. My reward is the satisfaction of ticking off each day completed. Sunday is a 4-5 mile jog but given the weather forecast I'd better do it Saturday!
Week 2 of the plan could suffer with weather disruption. I might have to do more indoor bike to compensate. I don't like the indoor bike.
What do you listen to on the bike? I enjoy hearing a podcast, although admittedly it's more of a novelty to me cos I don't listen to anything when I'm running. It gives me a good incentive to get on that bike!
If it's an easy ride then I listen to audio books. Working through Terry Pratchett at the moment.If I want to push it then I use music and adjust the gearing so I can pedal in time to the beat. That works up a real sweat! Also makes the time go faster.
I definitely find running itself is the treat - really helps to sort my head out. I managed to fit in an 8.5 mile run last night, using the NRC 90 minute run which I really recommend - it gives some handy pointers on breathing and technique at about the point when these start to give way to tiredness.
Not sure about other treats, I did stuff my face last night post run though!
Thanks for the pep talk posts roseabi and linda9389 . I always look forward to reading them and there's always something to learn. Today I learned about the criticality of cake in a training plan 😀🍰🏴☠️.
Cake! For me it has to be a homemade one unless of course it’s a race day one. I actively seek out races for their baked offerings No cake, I ain’t there 😁
Totally with you on the hot shower and cake mini rewards roseabi !
My big treat has already happened with my trail shoes purchase 🏃♀️👟😍 🤣
Consequently my non-existent HM plan has retreated even further, as I'm now obsessed with trying out new routes on the forest paths. Elevation gain has increased but pace and distance have gone to pot.
I have several new ideas and different options for longer runs though, so watch this space.
I'm wondering as well! Though to get to anywhere reasonably flat I have to run down about 4k first, dropping from 680m to about 520m, and then of course I have to get back.
Although my one and only run down to that level got me my fastest estimated 10k time (Christmas Eve 12k run) I didn't enjoy it much - too many boring bits! Also, I know I'll put pressure on myself to go faster if I don't have the excuse of going uphill and/or on uneven surfaces.
I do need to stop wimping out and give it a go though...
I hate to admit it but the tick, the stats and the after run high all do it for me! Then again, in this weather the hot shower is a great reward too! I seem to remember, in the dark and distant past, that a roast and glass (or two) of prosecco post race were pretty wonderful treats! Sadly two more of my races have been cancelled/postponed, so no prospect of a live race on my calendar until Sept as it stands. Hey ho! Virtual winter run in the snow and wind and freezing temperatures for me tomorrow - that's all my excuses for a rubbish time lined up in a row, so all that remains is to enjoy the run and tick it off 👍✔
Speaking of rewards, I have just ordered myself the runningchampion Thank You NHS medal for my future half marathon - now I definitely have to do that HM at some point!
I'm feeling a bit better about my training this week, having fitted in an intervals session and a 8.5 miler, plus one outing running while my son cycles which is an interesting fartlek experience! Hoping to round out the week with a 5k today.
My goal for next week (on top of trying to keep a nice varied training programme going) is to try to get out in daylight as much as I can, even if only briefly. Being out in the sun for our family bike ride/run made me realise how much I was missing by only leaving the house for a run in the dark. It will be tough to juggle with everything else that's going on but I think really important to try to get out.
Just come back from my long run and think I ticked all Roseabi’s treat boxes as I was sooooo cold 🥶 Had to use the loo in the park at the end but, after carefully washing my hands, the driers weren’t working so had frozen wet hands on the way home 🥶 Hot chocolate and my favourite cereal bar followed by a hot shower then coffee. Still feeling cold! Normally my treat is 3 haribo sweets but I’m saving those until later today when I hope to have warmed up!
Week 1 of my training plan completed. It’s all a bit compressed as it’s only 6 weeks worth but it should be ok 🤞. RED January seems to have done my stamina no end of good! Got 2 spreadsheets on the go so all nicely documented! 😁 Roseabi, could you put me down for the Virtual Bath Half on 14th March please? Xx
I am getting closer to my HM! I still haven't planned a date (the weather is too variable for that I just want to go out on a sunny day!) I am in my 8th week of my plan . Whilst two weeks I didn't do much (18 and then 12k respectively)- I am calling that the rest my body needed.
I am thinking of two weeks of building (including this one), then one taper week before I run the HM the next! Personally I am so plan-drive, so I just love the feeling ticking off a planned run gives I also love the copious amount of food I can cook myself after a medium-long run! Tonight was curly fries and schnitzels
In all seriousness though I truly love the structure and sense of achievement running give me. I was thinking about if I had told myself only last year I would be a) a runner!, 2) running 10 miles near-weekly, and c) voluntarily choosing to run in the snow!
I'm not really a treat sort of person, unless you count my Garmin, which I've had for nearly a year...
I felt my heart rate monitor was not working properly recently, I managed to find someone to live chat with at Garmin, they talked me through a reset...I'm to try it for a few runs, if it's still the same they'll get me a replacement - good service I think!
My HM plan has another 5 and a bit weeks, HM scheduled for Mar 21...
I've only run twice since, a slow run and a threshold run, so far they seem consistent, not swinging up and down, but they seem very high...intervals tomorrow, and a long slow run on Sunday, that should put it through all it's paces...I'll keep you posted xx
Seems to be a bit better, not quite so random. To be honest I'm a bit fed up with the whole Zone thing, I'll finish the plan, but I sort of did my own thing this morning, didn't seem to make much difference.
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I also love the copious amount of food I can cook myself after a medium-long run! Tonight was curly fries and schnitzels 
Weekly Chat July 19th to 26th
