Half Marathon Training (Finally) Continues!

So it has been a while since I checked in about my half marathon training.

Last post I was up to week four, using Half Marathon Coach app as my program, and preparing for Run Melbourne in July.

Let me quickly detail what has happened since then.

First, I found out there was a better half marathon just a few weeks later in August, which instead of being with thousands of people in the middle of the city, was smaller and along a coastal road. Scenic is always good when you are going 21kms.

So I decided I would change my goal to that.

This might have resulted in me bludging for a week.

I then tried to get back into my training using the Half Marathon App. It was then I realised a few things I don't like about it:

1. It doesn't let you pause or restart. This means it keeps ticking over and whispering to you that you are getting even further and further behind, which is a guilt trip I don't need from my phone.

2. I wanted to change the date of my final race, but couldn't. So I ended up getting a whole new program, which was annoying because it started again at the low milage. Further, I then found out that it would give me only 2 weeks of the new program, and I would have to pay for the rest! Even though the original was free!

So, I got sick of it and did some research into other apps.

I have since downloaded the Runner's World app (which again is free).


Pros to the app:

- again it lets you put in your final race date and it works out a program towards that.

- it lets you choose 'maintenance', 'moderate', 'hard' and 'extra hard' levels of training which affects the number of sessions per week you have and how quickly the intensity and mileage increases.

- my biggest love comes from the fact that you put in your previous best race time for any standard distance (I put in my time for my most recent 10km) and in all of your training sessions it will give you an exact pace you should be aiming for. Looking at this, I've realised I was going a bit too hard for my 'easy' jogs previously.

- it also is more varied in its training, including tempo and speed work. This keeps the training a bit more interesting. I take whatever distractions I can get :D


Cons:

- can't decide if it is actually a con, but you don't actually record what you do anywhere, so it doesn't show you how much you have achieved. Might be easy to just forget it is there if you didn't have your own motivation to keep doing it.

- It would be better if you could change the 'pace' for workouts to 'speed'. While there are calculators that do this for you on the internet, it would make it easier to use if it did it itself. (I work in speed rather than pace, being a long time treadmill user.)

Overall, at the moment I really like it. Though last week I really was sick, and so am just getting back into it now. Today I did my 11km long run on the treadmill as it was raining outside (and yes, I'm that soft.) 


Weightloss wise:

Last time I checked in for training, I realised my parents' scales were lying to me though they gave me a reading of 75.7.

Over the next few weeks of not training but definitely eating, my weight crept up to 77kgs again until I jumped on the 5:2 Diet. In the first two weeks of doing that, my weight dropped right back down to 74kgs. However, last week and a bit the loss hasn't been as good (which I knew when I started the program, the first two weeks give you the biggest loss.) My weight has been bouncing around quite a bit in unpredictable ways. I had gone down to 73.9, but then back up to 75.6, and lots of things in between. However, today I clocked in at a reasonable 74.5kgs (had hoped to be firmly in the 73s, but it was not to be). 


Conclusion:

The Sandy Point Half Marathon is on the 18th August, just over two months away. Plenty of time to increase my mileage and reach my goal weight of sub 70 kgs... if I'm good. Wish me luck!