Time for another edition of Fit Five Friday! with your FIVE amazing hosts – me, My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Runs with Pugs, Zenaida ! Feel free to join in on the fun!
This week I am going a bit rogue – the topic for today’s FFF is “your favourite 5 ingredient recipe” – which I do not really have since I am a very spoiled person who hardly ever has to cook. So for my post, I’m doing:
Five things I’m doing to prepare for Half Marathon Training
All right, all right, I know what you are thinking, me, going back to the “long” distance after saying I was done for a while? Well I guess a while is up. I tried very hard to accept that maybe my running “career” is over and to be honest it just makes me sad and goal-less.
Last week I got a work email saying the the company was sponsoring places in the Amsterdam Marathon on October 15th (8KM, Half and Full distances) and if I wanted to join I should let the team know sooner rather than later. I thought about it and felt that 8km was just not enough to justify spending a Sunday in Amsterdam but could I really do the half? Could I handle that? After discussing with Ron (whom I actually thought would have more of an argument to NOT do it; surprise, surprise he said yes right away) I decided to reply back that I was IN.
But that means I need to get my butt in gear.
Ramping up run/walk intervals
I’ve been doing run/walk intervals now, since I was finally over The CoughTM at the end of February. I think I did my last 3 min/ 1 min intervals on Wednesday, and as of next week I will do 500m / 100m which is a bit more running and the same amount recovery. And I’ll keep building on that, with the intention of being able to just run 5KM before mid-June.
Ramping up other cardio
Since I asked for an hour lunch on Mondays and Fridays, that means I will have the opportunity to do RPM at home. Since Ron also needs the motivation, this is also a good way for him to, for sure, have at least 2 running sessions, possibly both on the treadmill. If it’s nice out I’ll use one of the days to run outside, but otherwise RPM suits me just fine.
And of course I am still walking every day.
Get back to the gym for strength training
Ok I’ve been raving on about getting back to the gym for some time now and it just hasn’t worked. There are so many reasons excuses reasons that I haven’t gone. But if I don’t get it under control now, when will I ever?
Ron doesn’t want to go to the gym anymore (but maybe he’ll get inspired by my upcoming dedication) and our membership is officially over at the last place we never went. Through work I can get a membership at various health clubs and basically it comes off of my salary before taxes which means in the end I save around 35% off the monthly fee.
I’ve decided to go back to Indoor Action, a place I’ve been a member twice before (3rd times a charm?) which is not far from where we live now. Next week Wednesday I go for my intake and then I’ll have a program designed for me to get me ready to start training for the half marathon.
Sign up for some (training) races
Check! I’m signed up for the 7.5KM Midzomer run in July in Apeldoorn – I did this in 2018 with my friend Gerrit while Ron ran the marathon. And in September I found a 15KM about an hour drive from home; initially I wanted to run the Tilburg 10 Miles (a race I won entry to in 2013) because I have done it a few times and really enjoy it, but it’s the day after the New Order concert we are going to in Amsterdam. Not good circumstances to run a race the next day. To give you an idea -Amsterdam is about 1 hour from home, Tilburg 1 hour 20 min, with standing on our feet for hours at the gig, then all that driving, plus not much sleep…. nope. Next best thing was a week later.
Start Training
I’ve set up my plan in Garmin, and my 16 weeks training plan starts officially on the 26th of June. Luckily with a rest day (ha!) as I’ll be driving back from Paris that day!
Do you pre-train before you start a training place for a big race? What things do you do to make sure you get to the starting line fit and ready to go?
Join the Fit Five Friday Link-up!
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- Your link should center around some kind of fitness (exercise, wellness, mental health, nutrition… the possibilities are endless!)
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Here are the guidelines:
- Your link should center around some kind of fitness (exercise, wellness, mental health, nutrition… the possibilities are endless!)
- Please link back to your hosts! It’s the right thing to do!
- Share the link-up love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!
- Feel free to share about Fit Five Friday on your social media! Tag #FitFiveFriday to get the word out!
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