Only a few days to go...

On Sunday it's judgement day, the day of my first ever half marathon. I'm feeling anxious, nervous but also excited about the upcoming challenge. I've not set myself a target finishing time - anything below 3hrs is great - it would just be amazing to be able to finish. Of course, I've had doubts in my abilities because of bad runs in the past, but all I can do is try my best.

I've come across a inspirational tweet by my mentor Dean Karanzes the other day...

Tapering off

In the last week I've been tuning down my training runs and taking on lots of carbs - in runner's terms I've been 'tapering off'. Basically, it means you give your body enough time to recover and re-energise before race day. Experts say, you should eat approx 400 to 700 gr of carbs a day, that can be pasta, potatoes, rice, porridge, beans. At the same time you should reduce your intake of fats and protein (remember my 'Nutrition basics' blog post a couple of weeks back). Even though I love my carbs, I didn't feel great eating so much of it. I started feeling bloated and today, my stomach just didn't feel right. I hope to be better tomorrow… Also, I've started to hydrate my body with at least 1.5 litres of water a day. I'm not a big drinkers, so that is a hard undertaking for me.

MyASICS training plan

Since I've launched my running blog, I've done a total of 38 training runs and ran a total distance of 227.6km. Even though I didn't completely follow the MyASICS training plan that I laid out for me (77runs/546km), I feel confident that I'll at least manage to complete my half marathon goal. It will all depend on how I feel on race day.

My training progress

Race day preparations

For race day I've prepared…

• My running clothes and shoes
• Water bottles with electrolyte tabs at hand
• adjusted the padding on my running earphones to ensure a tight fit and
• post-run snack, consisting of bananas, energy bars and chocolate milk shake.

Tomorrow I'll update my running music playlist with some new tunes and will try to keep my mind busy. This week it's been worried about the wearer forecast. It's been hot and sunny, just like it should be in June and at the beginning of summer. However, for my first half I'd want anything else but hot weather. But it seems like the weather god might be listening to me…

So wish me luck - I'll see you on the other side ;) Good luck to all runners taking part in the #Southendhalf!