Half way there

With the exception of a smattering of shingle on the seafront promenade, and some muddy puddles to dance around on the coastal gravelled path, today was a perfect day for running. Sunshine, a cool temperature and a mere whisper of wind. What a contrast from the dreary grey drizzle of last weeks run. 

After the personal best beating 5k run on Tuesday I was looking forward to easing up on the pace, and enjoying the 5 miler on Wednesday evening. The weather had other ideas though. 

I've been told several times during the process how miserable it must be having to train "at the wrong time of the year" on dark evenings with cold wind and heavy rain. So far I've been very lucky, and avoided most of the rain, on the dark evening runs at least. Wednesday however was totally miserable. It wasn't helped by the fact that due to a problem with the connector on my headphones, I was running without any music or distance feedback to keep me going.

I got round the 5.14 miles in 42:18 and had to dig really deep to keep myself going.

On Thursday I couldn't make hockey training in the evening, so instead of taking the easy option and being lazy, I headed out for a lunch time run with Mike. It was nice to get out for three miles in the daytime, and much better then staying at work, stuck behind a desk. The paths were on the muddy side from all the rain we have been enjoying recently, and our dirty trainers definitely looked like they'd been out for a good run by the time we'd got back to the office.

Friday was a rest day, Saturday was hockey which we won, so hurrah for that.

With a fellow marathon trainee boasting about their first of four 20 mile training runs on Facebook, I spent Saturday evening getting twitchy about my training plan. I was undecided about what distance I would do today, and whether or not it was worth upping my planned distances, however the lure of completing my first half marathon distance was too strong to ignore, and wanting to beat a time of 1:50 I didn't want to be distracted by running further than 13.1 miles. I will continue to assess my training plan as I progress, however my main priority will be to remain injury free. This will obviously be best achieved by not pushing the distance too hard or too fast.

Today's run, as already mentioned, was an absolute pleasure. It was hard work, but I was deliberately pushing for an 8:20 pace to get me round in 1 hour 50. The reason for this target is that I've been told previously that to calculate a marathon time, you take your half marathon time, double it and add twenty minutes. As I'm going for a sub 4 hour marathon, 1 hour 50 was therefore my half marathon target.

I decided to run the 10 mile route I'd run a couple of weeks ago, but added on an extension to take me further along the seafront. For those that know Portsmouth, I continued westwards past Canoe lake and turned instead at Clarence Pier. There were plenty of fellow runners out and about, lots of dogs enjoying their walks and an ankle biting terrier which I managed to just about dodge in time.

I completed the half marathon distance in 1:47:44, which meant I was comfortably under the 1:50 target I'd set. Happy days. Absolutely shattered though, and entirely intimidated at the thought of having to do it twice over.

Next week I am heading back up to Scotland with work. I will have to make sure I'm strict with the eating, and training plans as it is easy to slip up when away from home and it's usual routine. Next Sunday I will be doing a 14 mile run, and for good measure I'm planning on heading up and over Portsdown Hill, and then of course back up and over it again to get home. I don't imagine it will be easy but it will be a good challenge on the legs. I suspect I'll be going a bit slower than this week.

On the fundraising front, I have had another bit of a push. The total was a little bit over £300 at the start of the day, so was keen to hit the half way point of my £750 target on the same day that I first completed half the distance.

Thanks to the amazing generosity of my friends, family and an anonymous galaxy hitch-hiker, I am now very proud to say we have broken the £500 barrier! That's two-thirds of a dairy cow!

There is still a fair way to go though, so for those of you that wish to donate, you can do so quickly and easily at www.virginmoneygiving.com/davidjohns