Roding Valley Half Marathon course map

The Roding Valley Half Marathon, my first “competitive” event of 2010 looms closer taking place on 28 February. I’ve never run further than 10km previously, and to this day still haven’t run past the 12.5km mark, so yet to know if I’m able to last the extra 9.5km that I’ve not run previously.

I do keep asking myself why? Why? Why am I doing this? A discipline which I’m least equipped to participate in yet entering distance events. Apart from the usual peer pressure, I honestly think it will go some way to improving fitness for the tri season ahead. A bit of early year stimulus can’t hurt, can it?

Whilst I’m reasonably confident I can complete the distance, I’m not sure my knees will feel the same level of elation as the rest of me having crossed the line. Currently, both require the added comfort and support of elasticised Tubigrip style knee supports, which whilst running feel OK, but without them the vulnerability kicks in.

On the occasion that the pain kicks in, it feels like the knee follows through so to speak and continues to bend against the joint. In fact that’s what may be happening. It happens most when I’m swimming and I realise that I’ve kicked too hard at the knee joint, a bad sign in itself because good technique suggests the leg should be straight from the thigh down to the ankle, I’ll have to work on that. It also happened when I’m running. Nonetheless, the thought of it alone makes me cringe. If anyone knows the technical name for that condition, let me know…

In any case, I’ll press on with the training. Aiming for a sub 2 hour time, which according to my calculations should be attainable if I manage a constant slow pace of around 10.5km/h. Training currently consists of a couple of lunchtime runs each at around 7.5km and averaging 12km/h and a longer weekend run where I’m looking to increase the distance each week until the event, current distance 12.5 km at a steady pace.

If anyone has any good tips for quickly building up to half marathon distance in 4-5 weeks, feel free to comment below and share the advice. Gawd knows I could do with it.

For now, happy training…

“…one of those sports where there are so many rewards…” Couldn’t agree with you more, Tim.

“Try get in a lake, it is different. In a swimming pool try swimming a length with your eyes closed and you’ll be bashing off the lane rope, because that’s what happens in triathlon…”

Courtesy of the latest ads from Oakley

The GRIM Duathlon happened a few weeks ago now and the effects have worn off, thankfully. That was the first time I used my legs to “run” since the London Triathlon in the summer. Today, I ran again.

It always helps to run with a friend, which I did today. On my own I tend to think about the running too much, breathing and stuff like that. With company I tend to just get on with it, talk, run, breath, breath, run, etc. The distraction of company certainly helps, doesn’t it?

Despite not running for a while as well as not being in the best of shape, we managed quite well to pace ourselves through the off-road bridle paths of Epping Forest. The new route to the as yet new destination of Connaught Waters was a spontaneous decision that worked out pretty well. The myriad of trails and tracks were laid before us to confuse and misguide us, but we found our way, albeit via the scenic route.

Fortunately, today I made the effort to stretch prior to leaving the house. This no doubt prevented the inevitable cramps that may have followed otherwise – bring back memories of the GRIM.

Anyhow, it was absolutely hammering it down outside, which is fine I guess but it does tend to fill those puddles up a little turning them into something resembling mini ponds, making for some interesting running moves involving hoping and jumping around the trails to avoid getting too badly splattered in mud. After a while of course you just get on with it and it matters no more, just like the breathing part of it, I suppose.

Once those first 10-15 minutes are done, the worries about breathing, pace, cadence, comfort etc just ease right off. Gotta say, the stretching really does make all the difference. I know this sounds pretty obvious, but I imagine so many of us “forget” to actually do a set of pre-run stretches and instead just get straight into it. The same has to be said for the stretch down, so don’t forget to do that either.

This looks like a pretty useful read for the beginners amongst us, RW’s BIG Beginners’ Index. I’ll be sure to have a scan of that before the next venture out.

Oh well, until the next time …