
I have decided to try and compete as a masters athlete. For those who do not know, a masters athlete is someone aged 35 and over.
Each week I will document what I did over the past seven days (training, workout, diet, etc).
I am currently training for a half marathon at the end of April called The Big Half. I decided to follow a training plan written by Hal Higdon.
Completing training runs on their own isn’t going to be enough, so I will be following three workouts a week: A flexibility workout, a core strength workout, and a weight training workout. I am hoping they will help me become a better runner and avoid injuries.
Monday
The week started with a flexibility workout. I managed to find one that was about 15 minutes long and didn’t have me swearing at the presenter. The video I used was This One.
This was followed by the core stability workout. I did 10 reps of each exercise, apart from the planks as my body isn’t ready for them yet. I only managed one set of exercises.
My training run for today was 3 miles at an easy pace, my mile pace was supposed to be 8:25. It was freezing and very wet, but it felt wonderful to run.
Tuesday
I am going to try and do the flexibility and core stability workouts in the morning to make it part of a routine. You should always try and make important things part of a routine. Taking my pills in the morning has become so routine that don’t even realise it anymore.
The training session today was a 45-minute tempo session. 10 mins easy (8:22) -> 5 mins (7:45) -> 5 mins (7:20) -> 10 mins (7:15) -> 5 mins (7:36) -> 5 mins (7:38) -> 5 mins easy (8:12).
Wednesday
The workouts are getting a little easier to do, I might be able to add some planks into the core stability workout soon. I do need to buy a yoga mat though as my knees are starting to hurt when I do the flexibility exercises.
Today’s run was so weird that I initially thought the plan was wrong. It scheduled me to do a 90-minute long run – during the week!?
Thursday
Rest day today, so no running. I decided to have a complete rest day and not do any workouts.
Friday
Back at it today. The flexibility and core stability workouts felt slightly more difficult today.
Today’s run was a track session and was split into three sections.
The 2 miles warm-up:
100m at 5k pace
100m easy
x4
400m at 5k pace
400m easy
x7
Weight training workout in the shed. It definitely feels too easy just hitting 10, definitely going to have to up it to 12 or maybe 14.
Saturday
Today I was scheduled for another rest day, so I took the whole day off.
Sunday
No workouts today. I think I’m going to do them a couple of times a week as my joints are aching slightly.
It felt weird not going on a long run today, my plan only had me down for 3 miles.
Thoughts
This is the first week that I have stuck to my training plan completely. I’ve not taken more days off, I’ve not switched sessions around, and I’ve not given up on runs. I’m very pleased and proud of that.