Back in training

It's been a little over four months since I ran the Paris Half Marathon with Team Bangs on the Run. Four months is a long time to give up running regularly. I know this because I'm finally back in training and it ain't easy.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may know that I'm currently training for not one, but TWO half marathons. Two. Half. Marathons. Only two weeks apart. I realise this is small fry to the hardcore runners that hardly break a sweat running full marathons every week, but given that I started running a year ago and have been avoiding it for four months, the idea of an entire marathon in only two weeks is pretty terrifying.

Luckily, I've picked two of London's most exciting half marathons. First up, on 25 September is Nike's Run To The Beat - 'London's music half marathon', which the second Team Bangs on the Run are also running. Exactly two weeks later, it's the Royal Parks Half Marathon, which I've only ever heard amazing things about.

It was never my intention to run two more half marathons this year, but it's happening, and I'm taking the opportunity to push myself and my body further. I'm determined to beat my Paris PB of 2:03:21 and come in at under 2 hours in both runs, so I'm following a pretty hardcore Runner's World training plan, which has me running five times a week.

I missed Week One because I didn't count properly (I blame holiday blues), so I started on Week Two last week. Here's how that went:

Monday

• Plan said: Rest day
• I rested

Tuesday 

• Plan said: 5M speedwork
• 19:00 - I tried to brave the huge rain storm on Tuesday evening, but only got to the end of my street before turning round and going home

Wednesday

• Plan said: 5M (steady)
• 05:30 - 5.02M (steady)
• 19:00 - NTC in Hyde Park with the fabulous Joslyn of Fit Girl About Town fame

Thursday 

• Plan said: 5M threshold run
• I slept through my morning alarm, so missed my run
• 19:00 - PT session

Friday

• Plan said: Rest day, but I wanted to make up for Thursday's missed run
• 05:30 - 4.66M including 2M  fartleks

Saturday

• Plan said: Hills 5M (inc 6 x 150m hill)
• 07:30 - 5.62M including 7x sprints up Primrose Hill

Sunday

• Plan said: Long run 8M
• 08:30 - 8.15M (steady)

Plan total: 28 miles
Kaye's total: 23.45 miles (Target: 28 miles)

A little wobbly, but 0-23 miles in a week isn't too shabby. Wednesday's double session perhaps wasn't the wisest decision. As much as I'd like to continue the NTC outdoor classes (which you should definitely get to if you're in London), I should make the runs my priority. I've never really incorporated speedwork, hills, fartleks or threshold runs into my training before, so that's going to take some getting used to. If anyone has any tips on any of the above, I'd love to hear them!