It's now just under 16 weeks until the Gold Coast Marathon, the event which I've been targeting for my first half marathon. I picked up the training program a few weeks back, only to immediately have to drop if for about a week due to a cold (although, better now than in another few months!).
My first run (training or otherwise) after the cold was the International Women's Day Fun Run at South Bank and given the circumstances, my 5k time of 26:08 is somewhat respectable, even if it's not what I'd call good. Back into the training now and the speed sessions are draining but must be doing something right because my "comfortable" runs over the last week or so are some of my best paced training runs in the last six months (although, again, not a lot of competition there due to an injury timeout from October though to early January).
Another big plus on my way to the half marathon target is Sunday's long run - I ran a smidgen under 13k which makes it my longest run ever (training or otherwise). Yay! Not to mention that on the same day I also headed up the coast to hike up Mt Beerwah (so not a bad days effort really). I'm paying for it now - my upper arms are sore from the Beerwah descent, but mostly my legs are fine. The funky right knee has been a little twingy today, but it started that during the Beerwah descent, and held up ok through the run so I don't expect it to be a problem.
Climbing today wasn't so much a washout as it was showered out, but an impromptu BBQ was fun despite the occasional drizzle, so today becomes a "rest day" rather than a "cross training day" :)
