I am training for the Diacore Half Marathon on the 12th May 2019. I am really excited as this is where I did my first Half Marathon. I’m looking forward to setting a new PB, having fun and taking home a medal for Half #4 🙂

Week 3: Cooler Temperatures and Easier Running

Monday, 1st April: Rest Day.

Tuesday, 2nd April: Easy Run, 6 km, 43:26. What a difference to run in 29°C as opposed to 36/37°C ! My body felt so much happier – even after a long day of work, I still felt my body had the energy to run! I don’t think I have ever looked so forward to winter in my life. Honestly, the permanent heat wave we have had since November cannot have been healthy for any of us. Here is to better weather and easier running!

Wednesday, 3rd April: Interval Training, 5.58 km, 40:38. I must runfess, I was so intimidated by the thought of this run! I cancelled it in my mind several times, coming up with countless excuses of why it should be postponed. But thankfully, I didn’t. We went to the Sebele Agricultural Grounds and after an easy warm up run, I did 400 m x 8 intervals with 1:30 min rests. It was another cool day (29°C) and it felt good to push hard on those 400 m intervals. I did so much better than two weeks ago where my fastest interval was 06:03 min/ km. This time I had 05:48 / 05:50/ 05:58 interval paces with my slowest being 06:09. Massive improvement – but what’s even better is I had so much fun!

Thursday, 4th April: Rest Day. 

Friday, 5th April: Rest Day. 

Saturday, 6th April: Easy Run, 7 km, 52:19 | Posture Analysis | Core Conditioning Class, 1 hr. This was a very busy morning. I started off with a 7 km run and included the Taung Flyover as I haven’t done many inclines recently.

After this I went for a posture analysis class conducted by my pilates coach. It was an eye opener and a reminder that correct posture and alignment is something we need to strive for every day in all our movements be they running or when sitting at the desk. I then did a core conditioning class and nearly died. I just found it really hard and struggled with many of the movements. As I struggled so much, I felt I didn’t do enough. But the pain I felt the following day in all the right places assured me that even though I felt awkward, clumsy and out of place, I had indeed worked out. After class, I picked up the kids from the Gym Kids Club and we enjoyed some smoothies before heading home.

Sunday, 7th April: Long Run, 15.01 km, 1:52:22. After my early start on Saturday morning, I was not looking forward to this run. We pressed the snooze button a few times before finally deciding to get up and do it! It felt really good – not the run itself, but the fact that I hadn’t wanted to do it and then actually did it! I also tried a slightly different route and it made quite a difference (I think psychologically) to run on some new-ish terrain.

Week 4: Some More Personal Records

Monday, 8th April: Rest Day.

Tuesday, 9th April: Easy Run, 5.13 km, 35:58. The kids had a late start at school today which meant that I could squeeze in a 06:30 run. Another runner joined me for the last km – I had no idea who he was, but we kept the same pace and then his pace increased slightly and then the competitive side of me came out, so I increased my pace to keep up. I ended up doing that last km half a minute faster than the other kilometres!

Wednesday, 10th April: Rest Day.

Thursday, 11th April: Interval Training, 4.70 km, 31:52. Today was my daughter’s 7th Birthday. After waking up very early to open presents and then getting her ready for school, I squeezed in some interval training – 10 min tempo x 2 with a 2:30 rest in between. Firstly, I need to point out that it was drizzling so this officially marks my first run in the rain! I put in a good effort and set a new PR for my fastest km, 06:02. In the evening, we celebrated my daughter’s big day with pizza, cake and ice cream!

Friday, 12th April: Easy Run, 7.01 km, 50:44. Only 5 km was on the schedule, but I decided to run 7 km to mark every year my daughter has been with us. I think this is the start of a new tradition and my husband also did a 7 km in the evening when he was back from work. I may struggle with having to do a marathon for her 42nd Birthday as I will be in my 70s, but I will cross that bridge when I get there, LOL!

Saturday, 13th April: Rest Day.  

Sunday, 14th April: Lady K Trail Race, 10 km, 01:09:48. I’m usually very excited about races but for some reason I woke up feeling Blah. My mood was low. I wasn’t nervous – I just didn’t feel like running. I’ve had quite an intense 2 weeks with school plays, birthdays, work and my running schedule, so maybe I was just feeling tired? But it turns out this low key mood is what I need for every race as it took me to a new 10 km Personal Best and a 5 min course PB! I am honestly still in shock – it was a smooth race, I felt really chilled and the realisation that I would get a PB only came when I looked at my watch and saw 1:05 and realised I just had about 5 min to go to reach the end! More to come in the race recap, but folks, my sub-70 10 km dream came true in the most unexpected way!

Later that day, I went to a Sportswear Launch and Fitness Workshop at a boutique store in Phakalane called The Blog. I had a lot of fun and the owner of The Blog put in a lot of effort to making it a success. We also went away with a few goodies!

Summary: I can’t believe I am halfway through the Diacore Training Cycle! Sunday’s new 10 km PB has been a huge confidence boost, showing me that my training plan is working. For the next 4 weeks though, I really want to do more Strength Training and focus on my nutrition which has gone a bit haywire. Aside from that, I am happy, happy, happy!

[Fortnightly Mileage: 60.43 km |Diacore Half Training Cycle: 117.28 km | 2019 Mileage: 385.96 km | Gym Classes: 2]

I’m joining two fabulous runners, Kim from Running on the Fly and Deborah from Confessions from a Mother Runner for their link up the “Weekly Run Down”.