Tough 12 mile run and 2 weeks to reflect !

My bumbling focused half marathon training plan is reaching its fruition and this weekend was the time to do 12 miles. I have not been following any prescribed training schedule , which may well be my undoing on March 9, but I am running regularly and with generally an increase in my weekly mileage, and I have added in some Pilates and the occasional swim. This is more than I managed on previous years preparing for this event.

I have an ambition of sorts to run a half marathon and complete it feeling good and achieving a decent time, but truthfully I have not yet managed to commit myself wholeheartedly to the prescribed plan that might deliver this outcome.

I read something the other day about training approaches that resonated with me – or more succinctly stated the bleeding obvious. In summary it suggested that when considering race preparation – you should look at your work and lifestyle then fit your training around your other commitments, rather than the other way round of settling on a plan and then trying to fit life around that.

It is not that I am a slacker – but like many recreational runners , running is something I do as a hobby, as relaxation, to keep fit and be sociable, to keep me on the straight and narrow, but in between running I have a full time other life – a job to fulfil and family commitments and life to participate in !

Anyway – blahdey blah –  and not by way of excuses – but with race day a mere 14 days away, I am of course having the inevitable pre race doubts and looking to the supermarket shelves to stock up on beetroot juice, cherry juice and other magic elixirs to give me the edge.

Today Alison and I completed our 12 mile run- it was windy and cold, and although we both found it quite hard and needed a few stops, we managed the agreed 12 miles.