Welcome back to the second week of Cambridge Half Marathon training. If you haven't seen my introductory post to this cycle of training, I highly recommend checking out my last training diary post! This week went fairly well - I'm happy to have got in 3 runs this week which is a good start for me. I'm pleased as I thought that getting back into training would be more of a struggle.

WEEK TWO TRAINING
MONDAY to THURSDAY
Activity: Bike Commute - Distance 2 miles each way
Only 2 days for bike commuting as I worked from home 2 days and did a run commute on one of the days. The bike commutes are not the most enjoyable now that the temps are dropping. I thought I'd be OK  with fingerless gloves as it's only a 6-7 minute ride to the station. But I'm not kidding.. my fingers froze within about a minute making it damn near impossible to change gears - I've dug out a pair of full finger gloves, but they're all cotton so I'm still on the lookout for a thin but protective pair for riding.
WEDNESDAY
Activity: Run | Distance: 1.48 miles | Time: 13.46 | Pace: 9:17 min/mi
Activity: Run | Distance: 0.4 miles | Time: 3.58 | Pace: 10:03 min/mi
Activity: Run | Distance: 1.46 miles | Time: 15:32 | Pace: 10:37 min/mi
Activity: Run | Distance: 0.34 miles | Time: 3:35 | Pace: 10:25 min/mi

Run commute split into 4 runs, a run to the station, a run from the station to work, back from work to the station and from the station to home, covering almost 4 miles in total. This run commute was actually a nightmare right from the start. We had forgotten to put out the bins the night before so had a massive hoo-ha moving the car in order to get the bin out from behind it.
It was freezing that morning too, I had a long sleeved jumper on to run down to the station in. Unfortunately, the faff with the bins and the car meant that despite having good pace at 9:17.. it wasn't enough and i missed the train by about 30 seconds. I had 20 minutes to wait for the next and despite having a jacket in my run commute bag, it wasn't enough as soon as I was cold. The train was also 10 minutes late too, so I was freezing cold for over 30 mins.

The run back wasn't too bad - it wasn't too busy out. The run back just like my bike commute is ALL uphill which is horrendous - but it must also be good for me! ;) I'm looking forward to seeing whether I can improve on my time.

SATURDAY
Activity: Run | Distance: 3.05 miles | Time: 31:07 | Pace: 10:11 min/mi
Another new route and another perfect 3 miler route. I went out with Phillip for a run, we are still getting used to the area so figured it was better to go out together for the time being. It seems like there are quite a few 3 mile routes from the house to chose from which is great. I find 3 miles is a great distance during training. Every route in Stamford that I've done so far contains at least 1 hill, there is literally no way to avoid them - which I'm not complaining about - it will probably do me good to get some hill training in as I'm used to having none at all.

It was a little chilly and it was also about time I was able to crack out my long sleeved running t-shirt to wear! Got to get as much use out of it this month as I can as it's the only month I can wear it! ;)

SUNDAY
Activity: Run | Distance: 6.1miles | Time: 1:02:00 | Pace: 10:11 min/mi

Long Run Day.. I was supposed to head out after Breakfast had settled and ended up getting a headache so I put it off longer. I tried to wait for Phillip who was at work but decided to head out at 3 when he still hadn't got back.
Only had 6 miles planned - I wasn't sure if i'd even make that distance since i've not ran that far in what feels like forever. Headed out on an exploratory route which was quite nice with a few hills included. I wasn't watching my pace too much I was just focusing on making sure I got the distance done.

Unfortunately, its getting darker even earlier in the mornings and whilst I physically felt good and could have gone further, it was a little too dark for me to continue safely with no lights, so I headed home.
I'm happy that I felt good throughout the whole run and even happier that I felt I could have gone further - it seems despite not covering a further distance, I still have it in me.. and my pace wasn't bad either! I was stoked to see 10:11 min/mi average - I definitely know I can improve on this over the next 11 weeks.


All in all a good week. I think I smashed my runs which is good, just got to keep this up! Hoping to get in some strength training this week and that would really top things off and I'd be off to a really good start! Here's hoping for another good week!

Question: Do you like to explore new routes or just run the same routes over and over?