My new half marathon training plan is minimalist. There's very little training and no plan. In fact the only thing I have to do is run a half marathon. I should like the sound of that training plan, and normally I would. Except that half marathon is next weekend.
I can't just turn up and run on the day. No, I have to do SOMETHING beforehand. Something to make me think that I can actually finish. I mean I haven't even walked 13.something miles in one go, how in hell am I going to run that distance in 8 days? Well, according to lots of people who know what they're talking about, it's easy. I don't. Woohoo, my minimalist training plan just got more minimalist.
But if you look hard enough on the internet you will find an answer you want - even if it's not the right one. Apparently I need to do a long run the week before. Not quite as long as a half marathon, but longer than I have ever run before. Hmmmm, so maybe it's more of a training plan than I first thought. Which means that Inspirational Steve might not be as loony as I thought.
My longest "long run" so far has been a very slow 12k, and that was with a following wind (home-made lentil soup doesn't count as a performance-enhancing drug as far as I know). I've been meaning to run to parkun, run parkrun and then run back from parkrun for ages, but I've only been able to do it with asterisks*. However, today is make or break. Today I have to run without asterisks.
Reader, I did it. A whole 17k of mainly running, with a teensy weensy bit of walking. I then slept for a week.
1) Unexpected CS
2) Yoga for runners with Bionic Kay, giggles, and Inspirational Steve's torture
3) Being caught out by Fiona on Facebook
* "run*, parkrun, run*" involves replacing the word run* with drive.
http://really-trying.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/unexpected-parkrun-in-preston-area.html
