About the half marathon…
2 weekends ago I was supposed to be lining up for a half marathon. A hilly half-marathon in gorgeous Richmond Park. My knee had other plans! I’m gutted to say that I didn’t take part this time, my feeling was that it was too much of a risk to attempt the distance when my knee is sore (hello tight quads). But this is part of the Swim Run Yoga life, sometimes the plans must adapt - not totally be scrapped. The beauty is that there is always something you CAN do. For me, that’s a swim on Sunday morning, when I should have been well on my way to half way round the half marathon course.
I’m sad to miss this race, but also proud of myself for the past 11 weeks that I’ve dedicated to this goal. In the past I would have powered on, ignored my body’s signals and caused myself more injury in the long run (pun intended). So slowing it all down, making the decision to not participate and choosing to celebrate the GOOD that has come from this focussed few weeks.
To train for the half I used Runna, a run coaching app that puts an interactive plan together for you based on your current fitness, with input from expert coaches along the way. I chose 3 runs per week, which usually made the plan consist of 1 tempo, 1 hill practice and 1 long run. I wanted a plan that I could fit around my schedule, whereas previously I’d run 4-5 times per week, I found myself prone to injury and burnout, so 3 was manageable and gave my body the time it needed to recover. The beautiful thing about using a plan is that it’s all set out for you, and with the option of shuffling the days around to suit the week, I loved this interactive feature. The encouragement from this app was invaluable in keeping me focussed, I couldn’t recommend anyone with any distance goal anything else.
Apart from… incorporating strength = essential to future proof your legs and something I’ve certainly learned the hard way! I’m working on my lower body strength, with dedicated strength sessions (I used to rely soley on yoga classes for core strength and plyometric work/balance work) as they make all the difference in how my body copes with the challenges running brings. It’s also a lot of fun to move your body in a different way, using free weights to strengthen and tone the whole body. Yoga helps, strength helps, swimming helps, and it’s what I’ll continue to dedicate myself to.
I love to run and the past 12 weeks have taught me a lot about my own resilience, limits and consistency. Rest from running longer distances doesn’t mean stopping altogether. I’m just going to practice what I know works, and that’s the Swim Run Yoga life works for me.