a few weeks of ups and downs...

...and by that I'm not refereing to the hill reps my work running club made us do this week...I am refering to my half-marathon training. I have been trying very hard to stick to it and I have had some great runs. But have also had some setbacks - mostly self-inflicted loss of motivational one exacerbated by recent overconsumption of wine. I have been rather stressed of late and whenever this happens I turn to food and alcohol, much to my annoyance at myself, and obviously after a lot of wine of a Friday night, the inclination to run 10 miles is not particularly strong. Having said that, overall I have amazingly managed to persever and have got in some very good runs in amonst the not so great. Even managed a 7miler in an hour which I was very pleased with.

I have also been trying out my new running shoes - went for saucony kinvara minimal shoes which are designed to encourage a forfoot running style (which is what I tend to lean to anyway). Have to say, I am very pleased with them so far, although my calf muscles have been very tight as they get used the change. They are the lightest (but with plenty of cushioning) trainers I have tried AND  they are black - so they also score a goth bonus :)  I am sticking to my regular trainers for my long run though for the moment while my legs aclimatise.

So, half-way through my training and am really determined to put my all into the last half of my training and try to eat a bit better and cut down on the wine. Just need to want my sub-2 hour marathon goal more than a glass of red and pizza!!

Today's long run stats:

distance: 12.3 miles
time: 2hours 3 mins
calories: according to Garmin: 1464 (which must not be replaced by wine and cheese)