This week has seen me reach a new milestone, completing my first half marathon distance. It isn’t something that I set out to do at the beginning of the week, rather just something that evolved as the week continued due to it being the staff week at the end of the school term.
The week started with me completing 19km on the Monday, I completed this distance by just extending my previous 16km run by doing another circuit of the Manning Bridge and back to the overpass bridge back to school. I felt pretty good, completing it in reasonable time at 1:41:56 which is 5’22” per kilometre. It did get me thinking about what it would take for me to complete a half marathon, perhaps this would be the week it would be possible? I decided to wait and see how I pulled up after the longest run that I had completed to date.
Tuesday saw me feel pretty good, although a little tight and fatigued. I decided to keep to my routine from last week and did a lighter session, completing 12.5km at a slower time per km of 5’28” per km. The test would come the following day, I decided that this would be the day for the half marathon if everything went to plan.
Wednesday morning I was up and at school earlier than usually to commence the 21.1km distance. I had done some planning on what I would need to do to complete it. I figured that it would be the same course as the 19km but with an additional two laps of the ovals on school grounds to bring up the required distance. The run felt good, I completed my half marathon at 5’18” per kilometre, completing 21.2km in a time of 1:52″24. I knew that the legs would be tired from this effort, so I kept the compression socks on all day to provide some extra support. Again I thought I would wait and see how I pulled up before Thursday to judge the distance I would run.
Thursday I reduced my distance again, completing only 12.5km which was done at my slowest time for the week per km at 5’38” per km. I managed to complete it so I was satisfied overall. Friday saw me take a rest day, this was due to me not being able to get school early due to other family commitments.
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Overall, I was satisfied with the week’s efforts. I completed 65.3km over four runs of the week – a great effort. Next week I am on holidays and I am hoping to take the running to a new level over the holidays. Who knows, there might still be a chance of me hitting the goal of 700km for the 90 day challenge – it will all depend on the next couple of weeks.
