The 7 week itch

Eight weeks ago I started a 12 week half-marathon training schedule, extending it to 19 weeks, so if I had to skip a run or two, I could repeat that week. I was doing really well up to week 7; I hadn’t skipped a single day but then at the end of week 7, I was supposed to do a 7 mile run. I hadn’t done a 7 mile run since the first time I trained for the Royal Parks Half back in 2008 and so that wasn’t a run to be skipped.

But I skipped it.

Oops.

But I have excuses! Of course I have excuses, don’t I always? My excuse is that I had a 5k the day before and therefore needed to rest the day after, plus before I did the 5k, I did body pump for the first time in three weeks and man, did I ache the next day.

That was a week ago and I haven’t really done any running since, except for a 4.27 mile run last Tuesday that was practically at walking pace. What happened to the 9:48 minute miles I’d done just a few days previously?

Bah.

Last Saturday’s scheduled 8 miles was postponed due to going to Hyde Park to meet up with some of my fellow Juneathoners for our post-Juneathon picnic (four of them were hardcore enough to have a run first. Abradypus was extra hardcore, having already done a Park Run and then running from Liverpool Street to Hyde Park. Me, I sat down, opened a can of Pimms and tucked into the stuffed vine leaves and hummous).

This morning, I didn’t have the energy to catch up on one of my missed long runs. I didn’t even have the energy to do the 5 miles it had on my schedule for today, so I decided to do some intervals, incorporating them into a 3 mile run.

So that’s what I did.

This weekend, I’ll have to catch up on my missed miles and go for a 7 miler. In the meantime, tonight I’m going to Talking Twitter with Grace Dent and tomorrow I’m having one of my short stories read out at Are You Sitting Comfortably, a local event organised by White Rabbit.

See that bit where it says “an evening of short stories written by local writers”? That’s me, that is!

I may be a bit excited.

Stats
Distance: 3.02 miles
Time: 34:43
Pace: 11:30 m/m
Calories: 317
post-Juneathon picnics: 1
Long runs skipped: 2
Mes a bit excited: 1