Half marathon training – Week 1 – 14 weeks to a new PB
Before I get into discussing my next round of training I want to give you a quick update on how my running has been going since the marathon. I took two full weeks off after the marathon and then I tried to slowly ease back into running. I donated blood three weeks ago and that didn’t do much to help my recovery. I honestly felt as thought I was running through syrup for the two weeks after donating. It was sort of like reverse blood doping! I only managed to get a total of 35.9 miles in during the month of June which brought my mileage for the first half of 2007 up to 560.4 miles. It’s nice to know I’m on pace to hit my goal of running 1000 miles this year.
This week I started fall half marathon training. I’m hoping to run both the Royal Victoria and Vancouver Fall Classic half marathons this year. My goal for Victoria is to set a new personal best (<1:59:56). I don't feel nearly as fit right now as I'd like to but I'm hoping that with 14 weeks of training I'll be able to whip myself into shape and achieve that goal. It feels good to be working towards something again. Here's how the first week of training shaped up.
| 02/07 | - | Rest day (Potlatch recovery) |
| 03/07 | 4.5 miles | Easy run: avg 10:20 min/mile |
| 04/07 | 4.9 miles | Tempo run: 3 miles @ 8:45/8:46/8:54 min/mile |
| 05/07 | - | Rest day |
| 06/07 | - | Rest day |
| 07/07 | 6.2 miles | Long run: avg 10:27 min/mile |
| 08/07 | 3.0 miles | Recovery run: avg 9:46 min/mile |
| Total | 18.6 miles | YTD: 579.0 miles |
I’m a little embarassed to even call my 6.2 mile run a “long run” but there it is. When I look at this week it seems as thought I didn’t do much but I know it fits into the larger training plan and I have to trust that the plan will get me where I need to be. As I did for the marathon, my new training program (pdf) is based on a Runner’s World SmartCoach program. I altered it to mesh with my weekly schedule, the tune-up races I plan to do, my travel schedule and my desire for patterns in mileage increases across the various types of runs. What can I say? I’m a mathematician and I like patterns!