Highworth Half Marathon

Friday 18th Jan - complete rest. Or was it? Got quite a lot of housework done and they say that burns a lot of calories.

Saturday 19th Jan - Body pump in the morning. No running or cardio work. Went very light on the squats and lunges. Managed to up the weight on the chest track but it meant I struggled to knock out the last few reps. With hindsight, that was a mistake.

Sunday 20th Jan - Highworth Half Marathon. My first road race of 2008 and my first half marathon for two months. And to be fair, probably one of the toughest half marathons I have done. It was very hilly, and as I had been warned, the second half was tougher than the first. As it was, I started to feel tired after about 8 miles, which is probably due to me not keeping up the long runs. It was definitely a wake-up call, as my stamina has definitely dropped - if I want to do the Blackpool marathon in April I have got some work to do. Oh and guess what - my chest muscles hurt. I knew that extra weight was a mistake.

Having said all that, I'm not too disappointed with my time of 1:55:02 - given the course and the conditions, it's quite a respectable time. And I wasn't last in the Swindon Harriers' team (this is a race for club runners only) which I thought I might be. As I write the next day I'm fairly sore, so I know I gave it a good go.

Monday 21st January - was meant to have a PT session with Ali (core work) but having packed my bag in a rush this morning I forgot to bring my shorts. What a muppet. It wasn't worth going home to get them, and I couldn't have run tonight anyway to be honest, so an enforced rest day. Probably not a bad thing and I have another two weeks to practise my core exercises.