That's the plan, Stan...

Wednesday 31/01/07:
Right, time to get serious about HM training...
After running a PB at the Kerikeri Half in November last year, I set my sites on the Cathay Pacific HM here in Auckland on 25th Feb this year.

That was before my sartorius problem and an enforced rest from running for half of Nov and most of Dec, to get it right. Now, nearly a month back into it, I'm thinking about races again.

I have never done the CP HM - I've done the 11km event thats run at the same time, but that was many years ago when I was a very casual "fun runner" only! The difference with this event is that its a staggered start - you predict your time and start accordingly, so that everyone finishes more or less together, at 10am. That's the plan anyway. It would have been fun, if a little warm at that time of day - its a hilly course around the streets and the waterfront, near the central city. As its now 3 1/2 weeks away I've completely flagged the idea of doing it. I know I could plod my way around, but thats just not me - not in a HM anyway. I won't do one unless I know I can give it my all and I am not willing to risk re-injurying myself by trying to cram in enough training to do it comfortably. May still consider the 11km, but will see closer to the time.

Instead I'm concentrating on the Forest HM in Rotorua on 11th March. I'm taking my Mum and Courtney down with me and we are going to make a weekend away of it, going on the Friday after work and staying for the weekend. There's lots to do in Rotorua and my Mum hasn't been there in years. Takes away a bit of the guilt and means I will have a cheering squad too!

So to the plan... I don't feel the need to have my running completely structured all of the time. But when I have a HM in my sights, having a plan and sticking to it gives me the added confidence that I can do it and do it well. Being my first ever "off-road" HM, it will be a little different. As I've said before, running is a very psychological thing for me... if I can tell myself I have done the prep work, I'm OK.

March 11th may sound like a fair way away, but its actually only 5 1/2 wks out! So I have picked up the training plan I used for the Auck Half last Oct at Week 5. I am confident I have done enough in the last couple of weeks to do so and certainly I had a good base prior to my layoff, so this shouldn't be a problem. Have tweaked a couple of sessions on the plan and now intend to stick to it fairly rigourously, starting from today. Therefore this mornings session looked like this:

Brisk walk warmup: 5mins
Easy paced run: 35mins (just over 6kms)
Brisk walk cooldown: 5mins

A nice easy one to start off with! It was a rather coolish morning too, which was nice. I had a bit of a struggle getting out of bed, but the minute I put my shoes on and walk out the door my mindset changes and its like stepping into a whole new world.

Kept the pace easy but a little faster on the leg turn-over than on Monday and I felt a lot more comfy. It was one of those easy runs where you feel like you could just keep on running forever! But I turned back just beyond my 3km marker - running to time now, not distance... This gave me a total of 133kms for the month of Jan, not too bad considering how last year ended...

Tomorrow is a 55min steady run, so it will be a 5.30am start! Even this morning at 6am I noticed it seemed rather dark to start off with. Thought it must have been very cloudy, but once it got a bit lighter, the only clouds I could see were low on the distant horizon. Still, nothing like running in the middle of winter - thank goodness! Perhaps I have just gotten used to going out 15-20mins later lately... like I said, getting soft! Not any more!

Thanks everyone for the links to the GPS sites over the last few weeks and the suggestions - I have been on the sites of Polar, Garmin, athleticedgeonline and prosportwatches and also made some inquiries at a couple of local stores. I'm still undecided and doing more research, but once I make up my mind I don't muck around!

Em, Beki - I have not seen/heard anything about kitty litter "crystals" - can you please give me a brand or a website to check out? Baxter almost digs to China before doing his business - I'm glad he uses the litter tray, but he doesn't half scatter it all over the garage! My older cat is still not very accepting of him and is spending less and less time indoors. She's given him more than one clip round the head and hisses at him when he gets too close. Any suggestions?

Oh and thank goodness for the English cricket team, once again! At least we can beat someone! I know it will be a different story come the finals tho! And forgot to mention on Mon how pleased I was with Rogers convincing victory and 10th Grand Slam title - thats my boy!
Looking forward to watching some of the Rugby 7s which are hosted in Wellington on Fri/Sat too. Always entertaining!

Bitch of a day today. One of my team members was leaving and it all ended on a bit of a sour note between her and the big boss... I had enough to worry about with it being the last day of the month - end of month statements and reports to run meant I was working late. By mid-afternoon I had a killer of a headache. And if I don't hurry up and get my butt into bed and get some sleep I will not be wanting to get up in the morning again...!