It’s been a funny old couple of weeks for my running training. Having got myself all geared up for the Broadland Half Marathon, everything then had to be juggled about when it was cancelled. So now that race is going ahead on November 4, I had to find something else to do in the meantime.
No time to head for the dunes!
I was tempted to do the Nelson’s Knee Knobbler with the Dunerunners. There’s a 5k and 10k course. It’s beach running, but if you’ve ever run on sand you’ll know that your legs will feel on fire going some over those sorts of distances, so I’ve always thought it would be great to add a little extra to any running training plans.
I’ve run along the beach at Waxham and Sea Palling in the past, and was looking forward to giving a go, until I discovered that I had family duties to attend to at the Easter egg hunt at Catton Park on March 31.
Oh well, it’s once a year I suppose – and there is apparently another Knee Knobbler event later this year.
A bad week on the food front has had an impact on my running training
But of course Easter means chocolate eggs, that’s Easter Eggs of course – or actually chocolate bunnies mostly in our house, and while no-one is saying you have to eat them, the fact that they are there makes it difficult despite all good intentions to walk on by.
That and the bad weather means it’s been a bad week on the food front and Thursday night with no-one – ie me – feeling motivated to cook anything half decent so we copped out and had fish and chips, all of which has had an impact on my running training.
And boy did I notice the difference when heading out for my Friday morning ‘tempo’ run.
I’ve been good of late eating pasta before my runs, and especially the Sunday morning long run. I’ve got a thing about weight so I’d also been making a lot of meals using the Tom Kerridge recipe book, which I’d bought like a sucker when his BBC show aired – still they’re pretty good recipes, if a bit fiddly.
But I can really notice the difference if I fuel up on rubbish the night before. Or at least I think I can, which means it could all be in my head.
Yet even with a pasta tea on Saturday (albeit with a couple of glasses of red and some garlic bread) the Sunday long run was ok but I needed a couple of walking breaks.
I just want to finish well and stronger in the second half of the race than the first
It’s amazing how every run is so different, and now I’m seriously wondering what sort of race I’ll have on April 15. Ok, I’m no athlete, but I just want to finish well and stronger in the second half of the race than the first – is that too much to ask?
It just feels like I don’t have as much in the tank, and I have to stop a bit and walk a bit, and the run all just feels a little bit harder.
However, feeling at a loss after Broadland was cancelled, I’ve now signed up to the City of Norwich Half Marathon on April 15 instead. And following my previous blog, and the comments it attracted on the runnorfolk group facebook page I am going to get some new shoes in the next couple of days, too.
I definitely feel that I have lost a bit of condition in the last couple of weeks as my running training has gone awry, but am hoping that with two weeks to go, I can still get back to something like where I was the week before Broadland when I managed a comfortable 10 mile long run.
If I can stay off the chips and chocolate that is.
Happy Easter everyone!