Pace and Grace

It’s been about two months since my last post.

Yes, I haven’t posted anything, but I haven’t given up on running. I kept training, completed one training plan, took a week off, and then started a new plan.

I’ll share my thoughts about Runna and their training plans in a separate post. Overall, it’s a really nice app, but there are a couple of things you should probably pay attention to.

As for my first unofficial half marathon (aka the longest run of my life) — here are the details.

One note: it says 2:19, but I actually took several breaks, so I’d add about 10 minutes. My real time was closer to 2:30.

Was it easy for me? No.

Am I satisfied with this time? Yes.

For some runners, it might look slow — but not for me. I only started structured training in June, and in just a couple of months I improved my pace from 7:40 to 6:30 per km. That’s a huge improvement for me!

But everything has its price. By the end of the training block, I felt really tired and knew I wasn’t fully ready. Still, I completed the run because it was my main goal. I had done all that training, and I couldn’t just give up. Luckily, I stayed injury-free — even after this long run.

This brings me to another topic for a future post: “Should all runs feel fun and easy?”

Spoiler: no.

After completing that training block, I took one week off and only did a couple of easy runs.

Then I started a new training plan — this time for my first official half marathon.

Do I feel ready? No — I’m still struggling with low energy.

How am I handling it? By reducing my training load when needed, shifting training days around, and focusing on how I feel and what my vitals are telling me.

That’s my short update. Hopefully, I’ll post a bit more often in the future.

And again — good luck with your training!

As a bonus here are some photos from my runs.