Half marathon training – Week 10 – 5K on Sunday

03/09	8.0 miles	Speedwork: 4x1600m @ 8:26/8:09/8:20/8:13 min
04/09	5.0 miles	Easy run: 5 miles @ avg 10:20 min/mile
05/09	-	Rest day
06/09	11.0 miles	Long run: avg 9:41 min/mile
07/09	-	Rest day (mini taper)
08/09	-	Rest day (mini taper)
09/09	3.1 miles	5K race
Total	27.1 miles	YTD: 784.9 miles

The weekly update is coming a bit early this week because I’ve finished my training runs for the week. I’ll be taking the next two days off as a mini taper for a 5K I’m running on Sunday.

The week started out a little rough. Speedwork is always difficult for me and 4x1600m is about as hard as it gets. I was a little disappointed with my splits but they’re only a bit slower than the last two times I did this workout. I’m chalking it up to a hotter temperatures and a lack of sleep. Tuesday’s run also wasn’t particularly stellar. I just wasn’t really feeling it. I got a side stitch and my legs felt heavy the whole time (probably a result of Monday’s speedwork). However, I made up for Monday and Tuesday in a big way this morning.

I woke up early so I could get some green tea, oats and a banana into me before I headed out. I thought about doing a big Green Lake – Lake Union – Burke-Gillman – Ravenna loop but in the end I decided to keep it simple and just do laps of Green Lake. I don’t usually post my training run mile splits but these are pretty impressive.

Mile - Pace (min/mile)
   1 -  9:52
   2 -  9:44
   3 - 10:32 (incl 1 min walk break)
   4 - 10:05
   5 - 10:30 (incl 1 min walk break & gel)
   6 -  9:52
   7 -  9:55 (incl 1 min walk break)
   8 -  9:27
   9 -  9:26 (incl 1 min walk break & gel)
  10 -  8:31
  11 -  8:38 (incl 45 sec walk break)

I averaged 10:09 min/mile for the first five miles. That’s a bit quicker than a usual long run for me but not really notable. I was feeling great at that point so I decided to pick up the pace a bit. Things got really crazy in the last 3 miles when I decided to try and run at half marathon race pace (9:09 min/mile = 1:59:55). I averaged 8:52 min/mile for the last 3 miles. I was really rolling in miles 9 and 10. Mile 11 was a bit more of a struggle but I tried to imagine I was finishing a race. Over the 11 miles I averaged 9:41 min/mile. I’m sure I’ve never averaged less than 10 min/mile for a long run before. This run was a great confidence booster. A 1:59:55 half marathon actually looks doable and if everything aligns right a few minutes less than that might even be possible!