Back in the spring I created a series on my YouTube channel called Road To The Race, which documented my 2nd half marathon preparation. I was thinking of filming a “season 2” of the series, but as of today I’m 5 days out from my next 10 km race and I don’t have the time to film training videos in addition to my 100 Happy Days challenge videos. Instead, I’ve decided to record my progress via blog posts in an interview format. Having a template of questions that I can answer over the next few days will not only help me to reflect and review my progress right now, but it will also be a good resource to look back on when I’m training for future races.
Date: September 12 – 5 days out
What did you do at the gym today?
Last night before I went to bed I set my alarm for 6am so that I could go to the gym for a run and also to train legs and abs. I ended up sleeping through my alarm and didn’t get to the gym until 9am, which was cutting it close because I had a meeting at 10:30 that I had to leave the apartment for. I didn’t want to skip my workout completely, so I hopped on the treadmill and did a 2 mile sprint and a 0.5 mile fast paced cool down walk. I warmed up with 50 body weight squats and I ended my workout with 10 minutes of full body stretching. Miraculously, I made it to my meeting 10 minutes early even after showering and applying a full face of makeup.
How do you feel?
It’s currently 11:11pm as I’m writing this and I feel great. I’m not sore at all, which is an excellent and rare feeling for me, and honestly, I could go for round 2 right now if I had to. The stretching after my run definitely helped (I don’t usually stretch…shhh) and I don’t think I’ll be sore before I start tomorrow’s training session. Yesterday I was having lower back pain, and I think that was from sitting in an uncomfortable chair for 3 hours straight, but today I don’t feel any sort of pain whatsoever.
Do you think you are ready for this race?
Yes and no. I usually run my races without training, which I DO NOT recommend (I do strength training instead and sometimes HIIT), and every time I run a race I manage to improve my time, so physically I think I’m ready for this race. My previous race was only a couple weekends ago and that went very well, so I know that I can run the distance on Saturday. The reason why I think I’m not ready for my race is because I still need to work on having a positive mind set while running. I get bored really easily during races and after 6km I start to have negative thoughts such as, “Why am I running this race, what’s the point?” and, “I don’t want to do this anymore, signing up for this race was such a dumb idea.” Between now and Saturday I want to work on changing my during-race mentality and find a way to maintain an uplifting attitude during the entire distance.
What do you need to improve on?
Other than what I just mentioned in the previous question, I need to improve on my water intake. Usually I’m fantastic with my water consumption and I can easily chug back a gallon a day, but lately I’ve been slacking and I’ve only been getting maybe 7-8 cups in by the time I go to bed. Starting tomorrow I’m going to try my best to go back to a gallon of water a day until Saturday because my body needs it to stay well hydrated before I run a distance that what I’m used to during my training period.
So that’s today’s training recap and review. I’m excited to go back to the gym in the morning and run 3 miles, which I don’t think should be a problem. Tomorrow I don’t have a busy morning planned, so if I wake up later than 8 am, I still have plenty of time to get a full biceps, triceps workout in addition to the run. Now it’s time for me to get 2 more cups of water in and get a good night’s rest!
Keep smiling,
Kels
