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So I survived my first half marathon..well just!!
To put it bluntly I feel like I have been hit by a bus!!
I managed it in though in 1hr 51mins which I am happy with. There were hills for the first 10 miles which were killer – I only thought there were hills for the first 5 miles, so that came as a bit of a shock. Towards the end my sore knee was playing up badly. I was fine going down hill and on the straights, but after 8 miles it was agony going up some of the hills.
I think I could make a much better time if I there were a couple less hills. I even had enough energy to sprint over the finish line! But I’m paying for it today, hobbling round Brighton, and any stairs are a killer. 
At least now know what to expect and I think I could shave 10mins at least from my time. I will definitely do another half marathon, its a good test of stamina.
So now I’m resting up and recovering, and deciding what to do next hmm..
So I have tried to rest me knee as much as possible and in about 15 hrs I’ll be starting my first half marathon at Hastings! So the situation so far is that my knee still aches but not as bad but i havent trained on it since Wednesday, but I think I am going to have to block out any pain and just go for it. I’m not really that bothered how I feel after the race I just want to complete it and within a fairly respectable time.
So with everything crossed for good weather and my knees holding up! I think I’m ready for tomorrow morning. Will be sure to let you know how it goes 
Well I’m definitely feeling the wear and tear of running on the road. I went for a run on Tuesday after work and did 10 miles in just under 1 hr 20mins. Which is the farthest and fastest I have done outside on the road. Since then though my knees have been aching from the impact on the road. I probably should invest in some better trainers – next time round I will. I’m just hoping I’ll be back to normal by Sunday!
I went for a jog yesterday but could only do about 4 miles and after that it felt like I could do some damage to my knees. So now I’m resting them till the big race. I’m pleased with the time and distance of my run on Tuesday but am slightly concerned that I may have put myself at a disadvantage by damaging my knees. I’m hoping things will be better tomorrow after another nights rest.
Well with less than a week to go I am hoping for fairly good weather on Sunday – at the moment its wet and windy so I think I may be disappointed Oh well, I’m off for a run this evening and hopefully it won’t be any worse than this.
I went for a 15km run on Sunday and did that in about 1hr 20 mins, so im looking alright for managing the distance – but most of my running has been on the flat and the start of the race is apparently quite hilly! So I am expecting that and the weather to bring my time down a bit. Still if I can make it within the 2hr slot I’ll be happy.
I’ve also found out that the Hastings Half Marathon is one of the hardest half marathons around so I have definitely picked a good one to do my first race. Whats the saying “It’ll either make or break me!!”
If you do feel like sponsoring for the Hastings Half-marathon and help raise money for the Amani Children’s Home then visit my secure donation page at:http://www.justgiving.com/dougplatts
On Tuesday I went for run for about 45 mins along the seafront in Brighton, from the west pier to the marina and back. I’m not sure how far that was but it was probably the longest I have run in one go. While I am more training for the time (2hrs-ish) I thought it would be best to get a definite distance under my belt, so to speak.
So on Wednesday I decided to run 10K on the treadmill at the gym. At least that way I would know how far I had run.
Now I set the treadmill at an angle so that it would feel more realistic – the road is never flat (hmm slightly phlisophical!). Anyway I started off at a good pace and resisted turing the speed up to high and burning myself out. After about 4K I picked the pace up slightly – my target was to get this done within an hour.
As the 7K mark cropped up I could feel the tension building in my calves and my legs starting to feel it. As I was making fairly good time – well for me anyway – I decided to reduced the pace right at 8K for a couple of minutes. This left me about 10 minutes to finish the last 1.5K. I finished at a good pace and even though I was pretty done I think I could have gone further. But I had reached my target for that day, will try 12K on Saturday and see how that goes.
I think my final time was about 58 mins which for a first time running that far I thought was ok. All of this running was either up hill or on a straight.
Now a half marathon is a little over 21K and my aim is to finish within 2hours. I have had a look at the course and all hills seem to be in the first 8K so that will be the point where I will be feeling pretty bad – but as long as I can make it through that section within an hour I think I’ll be able to make good time on the rest of the course.
Ha well we’ll see on the day, I could have the wind and rain in my face all the way round and be lucky to make it 3 hours!!
Well after competing in a kickboxing tournament on Sunday at the University of Kent – and doing pretty well considering the judges gave a bad call on one of my fights, everyone else thought I’d won but hey you can’t argue with the judges (at least I gave him a bloody nose for his troubles!!) – I’m ready to start training ’seriously’ for this half marthon.
I’m going to be going for run tonight for an hour or so – I’m training in time rather than distance. I think I will need to get more used to running for a couple of hours than the distance. I mean I know that running 13 miles isn’t going to be easy but psychologicaly running for 2 hours – and not getting bored! – will be the real test.
Its wet and windy out there tonight and I’m going to be running at about 10 p.m., so perfect training conditions!! Hopefully I’ll be able to get up and make the walk into work tomorrow…
Ok so I have finally signed up to the Hastings Half Marathon, you can read more about it here:
http://www.hastings-half.co.uk
What’s slightly worrying is that this is only 3 weeks away!! I thought it was on the 22nd but it turns out it is on the 11th. Needless to say that I’m a little behind in my training – I did a 5km run in 25mins, so if I times that by 4 which is about the same distance then it should take me about 1hr 40 mins…Yeah Right!!
Oh well I guess its going to be a case of do my best and hope I make it all the way through. I think having two kickboxing tournaments, one this weekend and one next weekend, won’t help. I definitly don’t make things easy I tell you.
Well I wil be sure to let you know how the training goes.
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