So as many of you might know I have registered to run a half-marathon at the Narva Energy Run on the 15th of June. I wrote about that in “My goals for the year 2014” and it is one of my top goals in workouts and fitness this year. 21,1 kilometres. A lot!
I registered in December 2013 and actually had a training plan ready even before that. I’m the master planner obviously 😀 I found the original 12-week training plan somewhere online, I think it was that one. I modified it to my personal preference and needs.
So I came up with something that looks like this:
I used my regular colours on this plan:
running (regular and races)
muscle workouts
cycling
swimming
Nike Training Day: lots of different group workouts. More information here.
This plan might change a little here and there because let’s face it: sometimes life happens and you have to change some stuff, especially when considering my recent hamstring injury. The most unsure are Fridays since I don’t know when I’ll have Zumba classes with my best friend and when I won’t. But in general my plan is to do 2 Jooks Jõud Venitus workouts, one of them focused on intervals (Wednesday), one more focused on strength (Monday) and one slower and longer run on Saturdays. I’m also going to be doing 2 muscle workouts (BodyPump preferably), cycling and swimming. Occasionally do other stuff like Zumba, long walks etc as well. Those extra workouts can change according to how I feel. If I feel like I need more rest, I might skip something in the plan; if I feel like doing more, I will. I’ve also started to think about doing a foam rolling class but it overlaps with Tuesday’s BP… I might have to buy a foam roller and roll at home a couple of times per week to really condition and stretch my muscles.
When it comes to nutrition, I won’t be changing much. Maybe only add more root vegetables and some fruits to get more carbs at the end of May and beginning of June when I have longer and more serious distances to run (like 15+ kilometres). I’m going to do everything according to how I feel and try my best to listen to my body’s signals.
Whether I’ll do a carb-up right before the race, I don’t know yet. How do you carb-up without grains? I just feel miserable after eating grains: bloating, heartburn, gas and extreme heaviness in my stomach. So I don’t really want to eat them… What should I eat to get more carbs? Potatoes? Bananas? What else? I have no idea! More research needs to be done in that department. Liberal low carb is the plan from May I guess.
What do you think: can I do it? Is this a reasonable plan? What should I change? Let me know in the comments!
In this blog post series I will have six posts telling you all about my adventures in Thailand. The posts will be published every other Monday. Check out Thailand part I, part II & part III.
We were supposed to leave with the 8 AM catamaran but it was late. The waves were really big again. We then were also late at Don Sak pier. When we arrived, it turned out that we couldn’t get off the ship because the waves were too big. We then sailed to another pier and got on our bus to Khao Sok there around 10 AM.
Around 11 AM we were dropped off our minibus to wait for a bigger bus. I had some food finally: fried rice with veggies and 2 bananas. Next we were put on a tuk-tuk and taken to another waiting point where around 11.45 we got on the actual bus to Khao Sok. We had small stops on the road where people came on the bus and sold grilled chicken, fruit etc. We bought watermelon 🙂
Fuel prices. 1€ = 44 baht
By 2.30 PM we were in Khao Sok. There were a couple of accommodation providers right at the bus stop ready to pick us up and take to the jungle huts. We picked one for 400 baht per night.
Monkeys were climbing on our house 🙂
After we had unpacked, we were ready to explore the surroundings of the park, eat and buy ourselves a trip to the park for the next day (1700 baht). I tried some soy milk (yum!), fried bananas and sweet potatoes and nuts in caramel for lunch and sweet and sour vegetables with pork for dinner. Thai food is sooooo good!
Soy milkFried bananasVegetable sweet & sour with pork
After dinner we felt that the weather had gone pretty chilly outside. We decided to ask for some extra blanket and that was a very wise decision. Later we found out that this night was coldest in many parts of Thailand (like Bangkok) in 30 YEARS.
In the morning it was pretty cool outside. We had a light breakfast (fruit with yogurt) and were ready to visit the national park. First we were put on a minibus to get park entrance. Before getting there we made a quick stop at a local market to buy some fruit for lunch etc. I finally found coconut waffles Heidi had been talking about. They were SO good! I also tried little steamed cakes and some grilled chicken. Must I say everything was lovely? 🙂
Coconut waffles!
Little cakes cooked with steamGrilled chicken
We arrived around 11 AM and were then put on a long-tail boat. The motorized boat created a lot of waves and I was literally soaked after 1 hour when we reached our lunch stop.
I’m actually not that fat, it’s the wind blowing up my blouse 😀
The views: just breath-taking. Khao Sok is a must see for sure.Are we there already?
The lunch stop was actually in a little floating village. All the houses there were built on water. Really cool setup 🙂 We had some time to swim, relax and look around. And then it was lunchtime! We were served fish, 2 vegetable dishes, a lovely fresh salad and rice cooked to perfection. Seriously, wherever I ate rice in Thailand, it was perfect and so tasty.
After our tasty lunch it was time to get some action going. We started our journey in the jungle to the cave. We walked on a forrest trail, saw lots of different trees, bamboo and other flora. Everything is so big in the jungle, like 2 times taller than here in Estonia. We also saw some beautiful butterflies. On the trail we had to go through water all the time, my feet were soaked the entire hike.
Bamboo
Passing through yet another water obstacle…Running shoes on, in flowing water, casually taking a photo 🙂
HUGE tree.
After walking for quite some time we finally reached the cave. It was completely dark in there and our guide gave us all miniature light torches. I don’t know how I would have survived in there without it. He also told us that we would be swimming in the cave and when the time comes, he will take our electronics and put them in a waterproof bag. Other unnecessary things were left outside the cave.
This is the only OK picture I got in the cave. Lots of stalactites, stalagmites and stagnates. We also saw tons of bats hanging from the ceiling – CREEPY! The trail was rocky and completely dark, I had to watch my step closely. In parts we had to climb a rope, swim in cold water, climb bigger rocks and then swim some more. It was so EXTREME and really really cool. Even my mom got excited which is a big deal 🙂
When we got out of the cave, everyone was soaked. There was not a spot on my body that wasn’t wet, maybe only my hair since we didn’t have to dive. While we were in the cave, the sun had also come up and the clouds had departed.
Out of the cave – clothes are actually all wet…
Then we hiked back to our boat and were taken back to the floating village. We had a snack break: dragon fruit, watermelon and pineapples. The dragonfruits are not my favourite, they taste kind of bland to me. Watermelons were good but the pineapple… I have never had pineapple that good and probably won’t have ever again. Unless I go back to Thailand (and I sure will!).
Dragon fruit
Pineapple: in season, ripe and delicious.
After the snack-break we had some time to relax, swim and sunbathe. The water in the lake was so warm! I was a great afternoon. Around 3 PM we started sailing back to the pier to jump on the minibus and go back to our accommodation. I got soaked again and also was a little cold. Later I got a bad cough because of that and treated the cough even when I was back home 😦
We got back just around sunset. We showered, hung out, bought some food from a small grocery store and then had dinner at Jasmine’s Restaurant. It was a new place in Khao Sok and had a cozy interior and a lovely hostess. I ordered a Tom Yum Goong aka spicy thai soup with shrimp, a mixed fruit shake and with every meal also came a free desert: banana in coconut milk. While making the soup, the cook came and let me smell coriander etc, just to make sure how much herbs and spices I liked and wanted. That’s customer service! 🙂 The soup was the best soup in my life. Seriously. Unfortunately I bit into a small hot chili with my first bite and then had to wait for the fire in my mouth to disappear before I could continue 😀
Jasmine’s Garden restaurant
My gorgeous Tom Yum Goong. See the little red things? That’s what I bit into. Not a wise step, not at all 😀
We were pretty tired after our fun and exciting day at the park and hit the hay around 10 PM. Next morning it was time to hit the road and set off to our next adventures…
Next post: our final destinations in southern Thailand – Ao Nang and Phi Phi Islands.
