Final week of proper training completed before tapering starts! Who’s excited?! 

I’ve had a brilliant week, with lots of positive runs but some running walls to hurdle too! I’ve found myself feeling terrified I’m going to get injured, so I’ve tried to be as careful as possible... I think this fear is only going to get worse in the coming 3 weeks before the big day!!

I had some really disappointing news earlier in the week, when my local half marathon was cancelled. I had planned to run it with a 9 mile pre-run to make up my 22 miles. Anyone who knows me will know how much I love a plan and a spread sheet. The idea that it was changing and was totally out of my control sent me into a complete panic. There were tears and everything! But I’m so so lucky that my amazing friends from my running club (Warrington Running Club), pledged to help me make my 22 miles a success. 

With the company of my friend John, we ran the half marathon course route (despite the race being cancelled) and the added the extra miles needed to get our 22. We got DRENCHED! I checked the weather before we left and I kid you not, it said dry and cloudy! Within 10 minutes of starting the rain joined us... for the following 3.5 hours!

I was loving life up until about mile 11, half-way up Broad Lane! For those not from Warrington... Broad Lane is a slow, steady, LONG incline, it goes on FOREVER! It was tough but we conquered it. We didn’t lose any pace either which is surprising! From mile 16 I alternated between struggling and being ‘in the zone’. It was a bit of a roller coaster, but each time doubt crept in, I reminded myself how far I’d come and how many times I’d met this wall before and got over it.

The overall average pace was 10:20 minute miles, which I was so pleased with!  We were out running for 3 hours 47 minutes. Fairly consistent again too... my slowest mile was in fact my first mile!

So that’s it! The hard training is done!!!

Let the bad moods, maranoia and self-doubt commence... it’s TAPER TIME!! 

Monday 9^th September

Rest

Tuesday 10^th September

Run - 5 miles recovery pace

Wednesday 11^th September

Rest

Thursday 12^th September

Run - Hill Sprints

• 10/15 minute warm up
• 8 x sprint up the hill with jog/walk back down
• 5/10 minute cool down

Gym

• 25 minutes on bike
• 20 minutes stretching
• 5 minutes foam rolling

Friday 13^th September

Gym

• 25 minutes on bike
• 25 minutes of circuits (press ups, step ups, bench press, plank, sit ups, calf raises, Russian twists)
• 10 minutes stretches 

Saturday 14^th September

Run - ParkRun at easy pace

Foam Rolling

Sunday 15^th September

Run -  22 miles

Gym session

Week 14 - Who said tapering was meant to be fun?

Week 12 - 4 Weeks to go. Less mileage but still a lot of juggling! 

Week 11 - 5 weeks to go.  

My Fitness Journey - How I came to run.