Yesterday morning I made my final run getting ready for my half marathon this weekend. I had run 12 miles last Saturday and then was supposed to run 4 miles on Monday and Tuesday. I ran about 2.5 on Monday and 4 on Tuesday. My schedule calls for no more running until the 13.1 mile distance this coming Saturday.
Right now I have a goal of 2:17 (hours:minutes). Last year I ran it in 2:39 and the half I ran previous to that was 2:29. I felt great and invincible last year and therefore did not take in any food while on my run. That came back to kill me in the final 4 miles of the race. I will stick to my fueling plan much more closely this time, no matter how good I feel.
My training has gone very well this year. Early on I was able to get in some good speed work and long tempo runs. The last couple of weeks have not gone as well, but I have still been getting the mileage in that I need from week to week, and I did not have to cut any long runs short this year. I plan on getting plenty of rest over the next couple of days.
This is the first time to run this distance with an actual time goal. In my first half marathon my only goal was to finish. The second time I just planned to beat the previous attempt (which I failed at). This time I have a specific time and pace planned. I will watch my mile splits and see if I can run a consistent 10:27 per mile. I often start off much faster and finish slower.
I meant to ask you earlier, How did you get into the in crowd that knows when the races are? You were having trouble, at one time, in the actual start time and couldn’t depend on being able to race all the time with their schedule.
I still don’t know much in advance on any race. I only know about this one because I am running it by myself in the streets around my house.
I do happen to have information on the next week and a half and know that there is a 10K this coming weekend (which I will not run) and a 5K the next week (which I may run). But I just found out about them last night. Considering that runners in the US know about races 3, or more, months in advance, then just having a week and a half warning is still not much.