Today was my 7th official half-marathon training session. Well - what can I say about it. First, it was so freakin' windy (what's up with the wind this spring?). There are not enough words to explain how worried I am that it will be windy on race day. What if it's windy???? Elm Grove Road & 201 in the wind - are you kidding? Wow - I'm definitely not going to be able to make it 13.1 miles. That aside, today's training went very well.
We went 3.79 miles in 56 minutes, but the first 10 minutes were walking warm-up and then we had about an 8-10 minute cool down which was a bit over 1/2 mile. During our 2:2 section, we both agreed that we were going faster than usual, BUT it seemed manageable. I mean - we didn't break any speed records, but it was a hair faster than we have been going (I'm giving credit to my crazy weekend treadmill workout . . . whether that's the reason or not!).
"C" and I had so much to talk about. We must have covered 50 topics. It was like old friends who hadn't seen each other in forever. Ha! I LOVE training with others sooooo much more than I enjoy doing it myself (which we all know I HATE TO run or walk alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). One of the topics we revisited was our goal time for the actual race. I had spent some time over the weekend and realized that to get a 2h45m time, we'll need to do under 13 min. mile (more like 12:45-12:50) every single mile. I'm not sure I'll be able to do that. "C" said no matter what, we'll cross the finish line together and not worry about the time. I suggested she use the PCT race as her race prep for the F4F race which is just 3 weeks after the PCT. She agreed - so hopefully, I'll continue to improve, but at least I'm not going to stress about having to do 12:45 m/m - wow!!
I came home and iced my shins, but unfortunately I didn't stretch much after the session so I'm likely to be sore tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't be too painful. Wish me luck "C" says we're going to run (remember to read "run" as 2 minutes jog and 2 minutes walk) a full 4 miles on Thursday.
Thinking aloud and ahead:
16 weeks till the race 4 miles
15 weeks till the race 4.5 miles
14 weeks till the race 5 miles
13 weeks till the race 5.5 miles
12 weeks till the race 6 miles
11 weeks till the race 6.5 miles
10 weeks till the race 7 miles
9 weeks till the race 7.5 miles
8 weeks till the race 8 miles
7 weeks till the race 8.5 miles
6 weeks till the race 9 miles
5 weeks till the race 9.5 miles
4 weeks till the race 10 miles
3 weeks till the race - should be lowering the mileage (they say 1 day of rest for every mile run)
2 weeks till the race - should be lowering the mileage
1 week till the race - should be resting up
Hmmmm, I'm going to be at least 5 weeks short - wow, that means that I'll have at least 4 weeks where I'll have to increase the mileage by a whole mile rather than just a nice and easy half. Have any of you out there done this? Do you have suggestions for when in the training is a better time to spring on an additional mile rather than just a half? Is there a time in the training when it won't seem "hard"? Ha! I can't imagine that any of the miles will ever seem easy - ha! Any advice or suggestions you have is more than welcomed. PLEASE share your advice, tips, hints, suggestions, help!!!!
Good going. You are doing more that many out there, including myself, at this time. Maybe we'll hookup soon. Adams L
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