Half Marathon Thoughts

I always like to get my thoughts down before a race. Cherl and I emailed back and forth with some of our plans and ideas.

Here is my half marathon dilemma. I just don't think I know how to pace one. :-)  My body seems to need a warmup and if I get my heart rate up too high too soon I am toast. When I was in Long Beach, the miles just seemed to click by, but I ran the first 3 miles pretty slowly. I don't think I have time to run that slow and still PR. I am not sure what pace will be slow enough to keep me from getting my heart rate up but fast enough to get me in the zone to PR. I guess this is what it is all about- trial and error. :-)

My PR is from 2010 and I was in peak condition from training for St George. It was a downhill half marathon in Provo so it was fast, but there was also some elevation issues. The half I raced last year was right at the beginning of training and it was tough but I was happy with it. 1:52 This year in September I was hoping to PR but I hadn't been training as well as I would like and it was a little warmer. (started at 50 but got into the 60's fairly quickly.) My heart rate hit 190 by mile 5 and 200 by mile 10.

The "race" at the beach it just stayed in the low 180's the whole race. I think that is my sweet spot. I need to keep it low to start and then slowly speed up.

Here are the stats.

My PR is a 1:47:43 which is about an 8:13 pace (I think)
My 1:50:18 from Oregon Marathon is about 8:27 pace
1:49 would be an 8:23 pace (Boston pace and I should be able to do this!)
My goal of 1:45 is an 8:02 pace.

I think my plan is going to be to start at 8:30's. Get to 8:20's fairly quickly and stay there for a couple of miles. At the half way mark if I am feeling good, I will bring it down to 8:10's and at the 10 mile mark I will try to increase it to 8's. We will see how this goes.

1. Perfect goal- 1:45
2. PR
3. 1:49 something

My injury has been feeling good for the most part. I had a tough pace run last Friday but I did it! Then I ran `12 miles on Saturday at a pretty slow pace but I got in 48 miles! This week I took it easy on Monday and then ran 9.5 miles with 2 different groups on Tuesday. My ankley was bugging me a little so I iced it and went back to bed and laid on the couch most of the day. I felt much better by Wednesday.  I had my friend Jen take me for a crazy fast run again on Wed and I didn't feel great, but I definitely pushed myself and ran some sub-8's! I think the 7:30 mile really got my heart rate up and I had a hard time recovering. I definitely need to stay away from that range. I did not spin or run fast or long the rest of the week. Did a 4.2 miler yesterday and 3.2 miles today so I should be ready tomorrow! I hope I can run smart and I hope my ankle feels good.

I am meeting up with Cherl and I can't wait to see her and see how we both do. She is an awesome half marathon runner so she is going to kill her PR. :-)

I am back!

Well, here I am! I took my mileage easy last week and on Friday I went for a run by myself and I felt good so I did some faster miles to gauge my fitness. It wasn't quite Boston pace but I ran quite a few miles in the mid 8's! I ran slow again on Saturday and took Sunday off. On Monday we were at the beach, so we ran with a faster friend and averaged in the 8's again- ending with a 7:37. Yesterday, I ran with 2 different groups of friends for some nice, enjoyable miles. My ankle seems to be pretty well healed so I decided I was ready for some tempo work.

My friend Jen (the spin instructor Boston Bound friend) agreed to come pace me. I will admit I was nervous. It was nice to have someone else calling the shots. It was a little cold and she took me up Sunset Hill. The goal was to be mostly sub-8 but she was going to vary my paces for going uphill. Here are the splits: 8:46, 8:49, 7:55, 7:59, 8:06, 7:50, 7:46, 9:31, total 7 miles at 8:18 pace. We were run 7:30-7:40 during the fast parts and staying around 8:05 during the slower parts. It was a tough workout but I survived! I need to learn what my body can do and quit limiting myself.

I have my half marathon in 10 days! I really, really, really want to PR but I don't know if I am 100% yet. I am going to keep getting my miles in and we will see!! I am definitely feeling more confident for PNW.

Sidelined

Well, apparently all those treadmill runs did not do well for my ligaments. I  have posterior tibial tendinitis (what I had last year!) and so I am easing back into running. I had amazing runs on vacation and felt great! When I got back to Oregon and ran outside, I started the Hanson's training plan with the 12x400 on the track. The next day I ran 9 miles with 2 different groups and later that day my tendon just felt like it was on fire. It got worse and worse and I could barely walk. I iced it off and on for the next few days and just went for swims. I thought maybe my running days were over. Once we realized it was the treadmill runs, I started to feel optimistic. I know I recovered 100% last year and I can do it again! It is so early in training. I don't like to miss any runs though, and I am a little waterlogged. I have been seeing a chiropractor. He gave me the go ahead to run on Monday. I went for a slow 5 miles and I could feel it and it was sore, but not painful. I took yesterday off and went for a beautiful bike ride. Today I ran 4 miles with the group. It still felt pretty off. I am going to keep icing and laying off it. I am hoping to run slow tomorrow and the following 2 days.  I am hoping to get right back on track. Not sure if my half marathon will happen in 2 weeks. I hope it does! I want to PR! I am just taking care of myself right now!