I’m currently training for the Gabs 1/2 Marathon on the 10th March 2019. This will be my third Half but the first of the five Half Marathons I have planned this year. I have done this event twice before, in 2017 and in 2018, but both times I did 10 km.
Week 4: Pushing Through the Drama
Monday, 21st January: Squats and Abs Challenge (Day 16). I knew I had to run. It was on the schedule. But I just didn’t feel like it. It was hot. I had such a long day at work. Not long in terms of hours. Just long. I was exhausted. There were so many bad drivers on the way home. But then when I got home I felt guilty. I still didn’t feel like running though but I decided to at least do my squats and abs challenge. 87 Squats. 50 second plank. 44 sit-ups. 46 flutter-kicks. And then I felt good and wanted to do more. I still didn’t feel like running but I youtubed a 12 minute arm-routine using dumb-bells. Best decision ever.
Tuesday, 22nd January: Easy Run, 5.2 km, 49:56. | Squats and Abs Challenge (Day 17). Today, I was in far better spirits and had a very clear plan. I was going to hop on the treadmill at home for 5 km and then head to the gym for pilates. Alas! At 4.12 km, the treadmill stopped. Just like that. No warning. It just stopped. I tried restarting it but to no avail and as time was not on my side, I bolted out in the heat – minus cap and sun-screen and ran 1.08 km around the neighbourhood like a crazy woman. Then sweaty and smelly, I drove to the gym and walked in carrying my green mat like the champion I felt I was. And then… no class. The gym was jam-packed so I drove home and did a 30-min home workout, more arm work as well as my squats and abs challenge. Yes!! And then… my phone died. The whole operating system crashed. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up!
Wednesday, 23rd January: Pilates Class, 1 hr. | Squats and Abs Challenge (Day 18). This was my first pilates class of the year. I did some stretching before class started.
The class itself was great and we used the pilates ring and roller, working our arms and core. As always, it was intense but lots of fun.
Thursday, 24th January: Rest Day. Well-deserved.
Friday, 25th January: Steady Run, 7.01 km, 50:44. | Squats and Abs Challenge (Day 19).It was so hot but my mum had the kids so I decided to brave the heat and run outside. Oh what a run! It just worked. I started off with an Easy 1 km but when I looked at my pace it was 07:28 min/km which doesn’t usually feel that easy. I then took it up a notch and my splits were: 07:03/ 07:08/ 07:18/ 07:20/ 07:23 and I finished my last km in 07:02! I felt amazing. There are some runs that remind you why you run. This was one of them.
Saturday, 26th January: Walk Race, 32 km, 5:50:53. | Squats and Abs Challenge (Day 20). Ditiro and I were up bright and early to participate in a walk/hiking race. The walk was in the Oodi-Mmamashia area and it was beautifully green which I hadn’t expected given how dry it’s been this season. It had rained the night before though so we spent a lot of time plodding through some very thick mud. My poor running shoes! In the last 6 km we did everything we could to just put one foot in front of the other!
All in all, it was a great experience but the best part was the cappuccino at the end! 😉
Sunday, 27th January: Rest Day. I drove to Mahalapye (about two hours from Gaborone) where I was going to run a workshop until Wednesday for one of our clients.
Week 5: From Hero to Zero
One of my favourite sayings is that you have to be stronger than your excuses. This week I had many excuses. And I just wasn’t strong enough for them. I was working out of town. My phone had died and all data lost. A big contract fell through at work. I just felt defeated in so many ways. Seriously. I could have run. The hotel had a gym and although I am not very familiar with the town, there was a nice stretch of road I could have used outside the hotel. But I didn’t.
By the time I got to Friday, I no longer even saw the need for excuses. I just deliberately chose not to run. Before I knew it, it was Sunday. That evening though I sat myself down, took out my pen and paper and recommitted to the next 5 weeks of this training cycle. I made a big batch of quinoa salad for the week. Packed my lunch. And refocused.
Summary: When I reflect on the last two weeks, the weeks were similar in the sense that they were both just weird. But what differed was my approach to each week. In the first week, I didn’t care what was going on, I just pushed through it all. But in the second week, I allowed myself to feel defeated. As I write this post on Monday evening though, I have done my 5 km run as well as 45 min of strength training. I’m feeling good.
[Gabs 1/2 Training Cycle: 120.11 km | 2019 Mileage: 120.11 km | Gym Classes: 1]
On The Blog: In case you missed it, here is my most recent blog post:
To keep myself accountable I am linking up with the inspirational Holly from HoHo Runs and Wendy from Taking the Long Way Home. This week they are also joined by guest host Amy from She Runs By Faith.
The Gaborone Runner 
Just keep on plodding! ( I say this to you as much as to myself – also battling with my motivation!)
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Thank you! Let’s keep plodding lady! We will get there one step at a time, one run at a time.
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I don’t blame you for feeling defeated! The way your week started…seriously! Did you get the treadmill working again? It’s a new week, time to regroup and get back at it, right? You got this!
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Treadmill miraculously started working two days later and seems to be okay again. No intervention needed but after 10 years with no service, I think I need to call someone in to give it a good service! And I saw on Facebook yours gave up too! Hopefully the weather is better though so you can do more outside running again! But 22 years for a treadmill is a pretty good innings!
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You may have had a bad week but I commend you for bouncing back and getting out pen to paper and writing down how you will attack the next few weeks of training. That shows so much commitment and growth!
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Thank you Kim. Whenever I am in doubt or “stuck” that paper and pen comes out!
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I’m glad you were able to figure out that all you needed was to refocus 😉 You mentioned your run where you were reminded WHY you run. I wish all runs felt that great (I had one of them on Saturday, when our temps were awesome and I finally got off the treadmill). But, if every run felt so great, I don’t think we’d learn much from them…sure, we’d enjoy them, but I think the tough runs are the ones that give us character and prove to ourselves what we’re made of. Keep on keeping on!!
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So true! Those tough runs are really character building and the good runs are the rewards! I’m feeling so much better this week and really glad that I only had one down week. The old me would have had 3 or 4 down weeks before getting up again!
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Sounds like you used a lot of energy pushing through in the first week then found it hard to continue that – which is fair enough! It’s always hard doing your exercise when away from home too – have I ever done any yoga when on holiday? no I have not. You’ve regrouped and recommitted and that’s what matters – well done!
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Thanks Liz! So hard when away from home – I think I like a set structure/ routine so I can get a bit rattled when things change. But thankfully this week has been great so far. The regrouping really worked and maybe I also needed a break.
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Gosh, I think you’re being hard on yourself. You still did some solid workouts. Sometimes you feel strong and can power through whatever life throws your way, and sometimes you need to give yourself a break. 😉
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You are so right Coco – and maybe that’s what I needed – just some good old “time-out”. And this week has been so much better.
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Unfortunately there will always be weeks like that. What keeps me committed to my training is knowing how much it will hurt if I’m undertrained. There are times we just can’t do it, life happens.
And seriously? Your treadmill and your phone? That’s just not fair! My treadmill did that once but Mr. Judy was able to fix it. It also basically blew up once — and yup, he was able to fix that, too. Thank God he’s handy because I certainly am not!
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Thank you Judy – and what I’m finding is I’m getting back on the fitness bandwagon a lot faster than before. In the past, I could go weeks without training. But this time I just took one week off and have been back in the game this week. And yes – treadmill and phone AND big work contract! Rough week. Miraculously, treadmill started working two days later. But I think it needs a proper service now. Mr Judy would get on with my husband – he is also Mr Fix It!
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That’s great that you’re able to get back at it so quickly.
Weird on the treadmill, but I’ve heard weirder things!
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Give yourself some grace and I commend you for pushing through! Despite the struggles, you have been crazy productive! And a cappuccino is my favorite way to end a run, too 😉
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Thank you Amy! So glad to be back on track again 🙂
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What a great way to turn a bad week around and move forward. How frustrating with technology — hope you didn’t lose too muchw ith your phone
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I lost everything except for my contacts which were backed up on my sim card! Even lost all whatsapp conversations. For some reason I thought those were saved on some cloud somewhere. But I’ve managed to reload all my apps and I’m seeing it as a fresh start!
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