1/2 Marathon Training Update

Planned training runs = 22 runs / 97.6 km
Actual training runs = 7 runs / 31.4 km

Weeks to go: 13

When I decided back in December to run the Blue Nose half marathon, we were having an unseasonably warm winter with no snow. It seemed like a really great idea at the time. And I had some great runs in the first few weeks, outside on clear trails and dry sidewalks. Then the reality of living on the East coast of Canada hit. We’ve had 22 inches of snow so far this month, freezing temperatures every day with one day of rain thrown in. That makes for a nasty base layer of ice under a lot of snow. The city has not been able to plow the roads or sidewalks down to the asphalt, so everything has a layer of slick snow or slush on it. We haven’t been able to open our back door in over a week. And the forecast is calling for another foot of snow this weekend.

Needless to say I won’t be running outside anytime soon.

Beyond the weather, there has been general life stuff that has kept me from some training runs. I had to travel for work for a full week, and while I took my running stuff with me and the weather in Denver was GORGEOUS, my work hours and being jet lagged didn’t allow me to get in a single run. One night was lost to picking up our new car (SO worth it!) and other nights to parent-teacher conferences, knee injuries from slipping on the ice or just needing a night home with my family.

Sounds like a whole lot of excuses to me.

Last Sunday I decided to stop with the excuses, weather included, and get my butt running. So I packed up Liam and his friend with their swim stuff, grabbed my running gear and headed over to our local sports complex. There was an hour and a half open swim that the boys could go to alone while I ran on the indoor track. Only I had neglected to check out the track schedule before we left and found out that it was closed once we got there. I was not going to let this be another excuse that had me sitting on my butt for the afternoon, so I bought a 10 pass stamp card for their gym facilities. I’ve never really run on a treadmill before, but once the guy on staff got me set up, I was all set!

I felt like I was starting over…. again. It’s amazing what a week of inactivity can do to you, and how hard it can be to get back any little bit of progress you had made before that. While the ½ Marathon training schedule called for a 9 km long run, I managed to do 3 km. My pace was slow, I was pretty huffy-puffy and had to take frequent walk breaks, but I did it!

I think this plan of Liam swimming while I run on the weekends is going to work out well. I still need to fit in some runs after work during the week. I’m sure life will still continue to get in the way, but I am recommitting to doing my best to get out there as often as I can.