Run: 6.0 miles - Week: 10.5 miles - Total: 295.0 miles
Yes, I'm including the workout I did with Carrie in my weekly total.
Today's run felt good. A 9:15/mi pace is pretty solid at this distance. Makes me think I might be able to pull off a sub-two-hour half marathon, which would require a 9:09 pace for 13.1 miles. I don't want to get my hopes too high, but I can't help but have that as a good goal to push for.
Carrie started the couch to 5K program today! Go Carrie! This is a graph of her run. (Ok, I don't know why it's completely straight. We ran for 60 seconds and then walked for 90.)
Run: 3.0 miles - Week: 3.0 miles - Total: 287.5 miles
Ok, so I wanted to run a little bit faster during these weekly runs, but I overshoot a bit today. In fact, I was pretty close to my 5K race pace, which is decidedly too quick for a training run. Also, this Nike+ system is great and remarkably accurate, provided you stay close to the pace at which you calibrated it. I personally calibrated it around 10:00 min/mi, which was good for the marathon training, but the further I stray from that, the less accurate it becomes. According to Gmaps-Pedometer, I ran about 3.15 miles, or a bit over 5K, so I think I'll have to recalibrate the sensor to about 9:00 min/mi if I'm going to be running this fast. Still, I think I'm going to try to pace these runs closer to 9:30/mi, with the long runs between 10:00 and 10:30 mi.
Run: 5.0 miles - Week: 10.0 miles - Total: 284.5 miles
First 'long' run in a while. I managed to pull under 10:00/mi pacing again, so that's exciting. I must still be in relatively good shape, especially since I didn't push myself to the edge. Also, it feels good knowing that I only have to make my way up to 13 miles (well 15 for training, but still). Before that was only halfway, so this is feeling much better.
Run: 2.0 miles - Week: 5.0 miles - Total: 279.5 miles
Just a nice easy run today, though I couldn't help myself from trying for a sub-9:00 pace. Has anyone else noticed that it's getting a bit chilly outside? I think I'm going to have to buy some running tights, my legs just got warmed up by the time I was finished in this 45° weather.
Run: 3.0 miles - Week: 3.0 miles - Total: 277.5 miles
Well, I'm getting back into running. After taking most of October off, I've decided to get back into the swing of things. Watching the NY marathon on TV yesterday was just the motivation I needed to get going again.
As you've probably noticed from the title of this post, I've decided to shoot for a half marathon first to play it safe. Most half training schedules last about 12-17 weeks, so the 22 weeks that I have should be more than enough to be able to do a race comfortably (relatively speaking, of course). Based on a few training schedules, I figure that my long runs will be as follows:
5, 6, 7, 4, 8, 4.5, 9, 5, 10, 5.5, 11, 6, 12, 6.5, 13, 7, 14, 7.5, 15, 5, 13.1!
This is pretty conservative, since after the fourth week I only increase my max distance by one mile every two weeks. To compare, marathon training is usually 1 mile longer each week. I do take myself up to 15 miles as well, which means that with almost two months to go to the race, I'll have already run 13 miles. Who knows, maybe with some luck and extra time I might be able to break 2 hours, but I'm not going to push myself to that.
So, here we go again. Wish me luck!
