This past weekend marked my 1 year runniversary!!! Wow, never in a million and one half years did I think I'd get this far! From the girl who thought that running was for those 'other' people! A year ago, I didn't know anything about 1/2 marathons, hill training, marathon training schedules, laps, shoes, Garmins, running clubs, nor did I know about the joy of winning a medal (yeah, I know everyone gets one if you cross the finish line prior to the off time, but I live for them! It's the simple pleasures of life!).
In honor of this special occasion, I planned to run a 15km and a half in Joburg. Unfortunately, I left work late on Friday and could not safely drive up to Joburg to attend the race on Saturday morning. *Not an excuse, but safety comes first. The poorly maintained roads I've spoken about in previous posts, have not gotten any better. In some cases, they've gotten worse. With no street lights, poor road conditions for at least 2 + hours of the drive, and by myself- driving is a no-go. As such, I've decided that, unless I have company to drive with me, I'll refrain from Saturday morning races to take the pressure off and increase the safety* So having said that, I left The Kingdom on Saturday afternoon and drove up to Jozi (aka Johannesburg), checked into my hotel, ate dinner, and crashed.
Bright and early, I was up and ready to run the 'Old Ed's Virgin Active Sports Club' Half Marathon! The good thing about 'winter races', is that they start around 8:00 am, since there's no rush to beat the intense heat of summer.
Old Ed's Virgin Active is a posh gym in the middle of a very nice area in Johannesburg. Per the usual, after signing up and pinning on my race number and temporary license, I began my favorite pre-race routine of watching people...and boy did I wish I had my camera. Some of the fun things I saw: a man with a very serious mullet, a few people I met during the Wits Half Marathon two weeks ago, a pregnant runner, the biggest behind I've ever seen on a white guy (sorry, I just had to mention it), a lady with the best 'runners legs' I've ever seen (leg envy), and two very old black ladies who told me that they've both run the Comrades Marathon several times (ouh la la)!
Now to the actual race details:
The 21.1km course was a double lap around the neighborhood surrounding the gym. From start to about 6km, I was doing fine. Not too many big hills (actually no big hills on the entire course, but rather steady inclines), which was nice. Everything was going well until I started to lose steam from 6km to about 8km. <----this is a note to self about proper pre-race fueling, which I haven't done so well.
Just after 8km, the Coke I'd been drinking at every water station finally kicked in...but not for long. Good thing is that I reached a personal record (PR) for a 10km, which was 55 minutes!
Long story short (sorry, I've been trying to write this post for the past couple of days), I need to work on several things:
1) Pre-race fueling
2) Workouts between races (read: not enough)
3) Getting my head game sorted (which will come along with the first two, and by sticking with it)
But hey...I'm not about listing problems without identifying a way forward:
1) I'm working on it. I've been bringing apples and peanut butter to work for breakfast and in-between stacks. Smoothies, here I come! Will start incorporating more complex carbs in my life and need to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
2) Yesterday, I re-engaged New (old) Trainer. I'll be working with him every Tuesday and Thursday after work. Now that it's getting a bit lighter earlier in the morning, there are no excuses to maintain this workout schedule:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Trainer (core strengthening & legs)
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Trainer
Friday: Run
Saturday: Run
Sunday: Race
3) Workin.on.it! This is especially important, because I plan to run the Soweto Marathon in November. I'm still waiting for the confirmed race date with baited breath. I look forward to put my money where my mouth is and registering.
That's what I've got people!
So until next time...one foot in front of the other...keep it movin'!
Yours in training,
Dani
Long story short (sorry, I've been trying to write this post for the past couple of days), I need to work on several things:
1) Pre-race fueling
2) Workouts between races (read: not enough)
3) Getting my head game sorted (which will come along with the first two, and by sticking with it)
But hey...I'm not about listing problems without identifying a way forward:
1) I'm working on it. I've been bringing apples and peanut butter to work for breakfast and in-between stacks. Smoothies, here I come! Will start incorporating more complex carbs in my life and need to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
2) Yesterday, I re-engaged New (old) Trainer. I'll be working with him every Tuesday and Thursday after work. Now that it's getting a bit lighter earlier in the morning, there are no excuses to maintain this workout schedule:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Trainer (core strengthening & legs)
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Trainer
Friday: Run
Saturday: Run
Sunday: Race
3) Workin.on.it! This is especially important, because I plan to run the Soweto Marathon in November. I'm still waiting for the confirmed race date with baited breath. I look forward to put my money where my mouth is and registering.
That's what I've got people!
So until next time...one foot in front of the other...keep it movin'!
Yours in training,
Dani
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