Coastal Half is in 7 weeks !
This past month we have come back from our long-awaited overseas trip to the UK where we got married (again) drank and ate all the things, road-tripped all over the UK, got on a train to Belgium, slept very little, long-haul flights in masks, mooched around Alcatraz Island, ran in some cool new places, had many belly-laugh reunions with family and old friends. It was everything we wanted it to be, it was fantastic. But now we are home in NZ, reunited with our fur-babies again, and getting back into work and training.
Well, I am getting back into training, Shaun has had elective surgery and is now out of action for a couple of months. So, this means that I will be doing the Coastal half marathon solo down in Taranaki on November 19th. This gives me 7 weeks to put a focused plan together, my training so far has been under the heading of “just go out and enjoy yourself”. I’ve decided to create my own plan for this one following 4 runs a week, building to 5 when I feel ready to add some speed work in. This will include 1 long run, 2 x recovery and a tempo run.
It’s nice to have had the last few months running with no injury pain, taking things slow and running for the fun of it. I am happy now to be working toward a goal. In November I will be aiming to cross the finish line and my training will have emphasis on just completing the distance without injury (the first time since 2019!) and enjoying my running. We have the group 70.3 Ironman booked for January and I’m on the running leg, then I will be looking to smash a time goal.
I am quietly confident that if I stick to my 5 runs a week plan, with some cross training for triathlon thrown in, I will be able to get to the start line in Taranaki confident of running the whole 21.1kms. Whilst procrastinating before my run the other day I stumbled across a youtuber who completed a full ironman with just 6 months of training! I am sure I can prepare my injury-prone carcass to just half of the run portion of that event in seven weeks. “Mind over matter” – I hear my mother in my ear.
But for now, it’s just about pulling on the runners and getting out there with a happy mindset and a healthy body.
Wish me luck !
LH x
