half marathon training update

[womblejogger]

With three weeks to go until swansea half i was begining to doubt my abilities ... the plan i am following from the race organisers is time based which i am not used to...

tuesdays run 30 minutes was a good run, thursdays a different matter entirely ... a whole host of thing went wrong and ultimately i crashed out half way through .... i'm not an overly confident person and knocks to my confidence really get me down so i went into sundays long run last night with some trepidation

with my race vest loaded with my water bladder and enough gels to sink a ship i started my watch for my 2hr run... i'd left it until later in the day so it would be slightly cooler and off i went.

setting my watch to display time elapsed helped so i couldn't "chimp" at my watch (a photographer term) , it was long, it was hot and it felt tough , it was a 4 minute slow run with a 1 minute walk break, and thankfully the garmin i have vibrates to alert you to each stage you are on

with about 30 minutes to go i could feel i was starting to flag a little but i pressed on , my knee twinged but wasn't an issue and then finally my watch alerted me to my finish

much to my surprise i had surpased my expectations 2hr and 9.31 miles ... a much needed boost to my confidence.

i suppose the moral to this is we have good days, we have bad days , but ultimately we need to believe in ourselves and the training we have done

[Folkylass]

Brilliant time womblejogger and super name! I often wonder if I could do a half marathon one day…..but not yet though as I’m still working on my 10k’s.

Anyway well done and good luck for your Swansea half!👍👏👏🎉🏃‍♂️

[womblejogger Half Marathon in reply to Folkylass]

i love to have a goal and the goal i set in 2019 which started it all was could i run the chester half after seeing the atmosphere first hand there on race day, bare in mind i could barely run 10 feet at the time .... several 5k, 10k, and a number of halfs later and i'm setting my goals ever higher but i would say take each step and enjoy each moment,m there is no rush, i'm not the fastest runner on the shelf hence the name and the way i womble along when i run but i enjoy what i do i suppose otherwise why would we do it ... happy running

[Folkylass in reply to womblejogger]

Exactly! I not the fastest either …but I love getting out there running or plodding😂😂. It’s just great to get out. Tomorrow I’m going to run a new route so looking forward to that😂😂

[womblejogger Half Marathon in reply to Folkylass]

i use to hate having to run walk, now it doesn't bother me in the slightest ... enjoy your run and new route tomorrow

[Folkylass in reply to womblejogger]

Thanks!😀

[Curlygurly2 Half Marathon]

Wow, that's a great time for that distance, well done xx

[womblejogger Half Marathon in reply to Curlygurly2]

thanks

[Irishprincess Administrator Half Marathon]

You are ready for this! When you stand on the start line you can trust the training and feel confident that you got that far. The rest? Just enjoy it all.

Well done 👏

[womblejogger Half Marathon in reply to Irishprincess]

just need to tell my complicated brain that .... lol ... yep i will enjoy it and report back on the days events

[cheekychipmunks Half Marathon]

Brilliant womblejogger, how nice to get a confidence boost. That was a great run. 👏👏

I ran/walked the HUHM yesterday, purely due to lack of training and not wanting to get injured. It worked, and I came out unscathed and feel great today. 🙏🏻

Good luck for Swansea. You’ll have a fabulous time! 😀

[womblejogger Half Marathon]

thanks chipmunks, was a great training run, legs feel like blocks of concrete today but it's a feeling that makes me think well i did what i did and i'm proud of it

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Excellent. That really should boost your confidence.

How many times do we tell people to 'believe in the plan' when doing C25K? A half marathon is no different.

The other thing to bear in mind is 'race magic'; what seems impossible on a training run somehow gets taken to another level with the atmosphere, adrenaline, support and presence of other runners. I often find my last few runs tell me I won't be able to dhe event I've trained for ... then along comes 'race magic' and all is well 😊

[OldManRunning Half Marathon]

Great well done womblejogger

[Hedgehogs123 Metric Marathon]

Absolutely, and if you train and really want to do it, you will! I did my first HM about a month ago and leading upto it, I did wonder I f I could. Anyway, I did it and I enjoyed it too. That for me is vital, if you're not enjoying it, it makes it such hard work. Good luck!!

[womblejogger Half Marathon in reply to Hedgehogs123]

i love a challenge and think i'm much more suited to distance over speed any day. this will be my 6th half distance since i started, back in 2018, and swansea was due to happen last year but things got in the way so i deferred to this year , fitness had taken an initial nose dive but i've trained hard and apart from my anxiety i know i can do this

[Hedgehogs123 Metric Marathon in reply to womblejogger]

You've got this Im sure!!