Half marathon training – Week 3 – Back at 30 mpw
The most exciting part of my third week of training is that I hit a total mileage of 30 miles. I haven’t been at that level since the week of the marathon (last week of November) and it is good to be back! I was also pleased to see that my January mileage came in at a very respectable 104.4 miles. I still don’t feel 100% fit but I do feel like I’m on track for a good spring racing season.
| 26/01 | - | Rest day |
| 27/01 | 7.0 miles | Speedwork: 8x800m in 4:13/4:04/4:03/3:58/4:01/4:09/4:01/4:02 |
| 28/01 | XT | 60 min on elliptical plus weights |
| 29/01 | 7.0 miles | Tempo run (moderate): 5.0 mi in 8:59/8:52/8:46/8:45/8:22 |
| 30/01 | - | Rest day |
| 31/01 | 12.0 miles | Long run: avg 162 bpm, 10:50 min/mile |
| 01/02 | 4.0 miles | Recovery run: avg 160 bpm, 11:07 min/mile |
| Total | 30.0 miles | YTD: 108.4 miles |
Once again the toughest run of the week was Thursday’s tempo session. My legs were a little tight/tired at the start and I struggled to maintain pace through the five miles. Aerobic stamina aside, it takes a surprising amount of focus for me to maintain tempo pace for 40+ minutes. Anytime I let my mind wander too much I slow down. I don’t have this problem in races. I think it’s just a bit harder to get “up” for an early morning week day solo run. On the plus side I made it my goal to do the miles progressively faster and I was able to achieve that.
Saturday’s 12 miler went pretty well. I had company for the first six miles and then then did the second six on my own. I started to fade a bit around mile nine and I was a bit chilled for the rest of the run. I toughed it out though. I need my endurance back!
Half marathon training – Weeks 1 & 2 – Getting back into shape
I’m now two weeks into my new training program and things are going pretty well. I’ve had some really good workouts but I’ve also had some tough workouts. One thing I will say about this training program is that it requires a lot of fast running! Having both a speedwork and a tempo run session each week doesn’t make for a lot of easy days. It seems that once I get through Thursday’s run my legs are completely shot!
| 12/01 | 6.0 miles | Speedwork: 6x800m in 4:10/4:03/4:03/3:59/4:01/4:05 (1:03 min) |
| 13/01 | - | Rest day |
| 14/01 | XT | 55 min on elliptical plus weights |
| 15/01 | 6.0 miles | Tempo run (moderate): 4mi @ 9:17/9:06/8:50/8:44 |
| 16/01 | - | Rest day |
| 17/01 | 4.0 miles | Easy run: avg 159 bpm, 11:06 min/mile |
| 18/01 | 10.0 miles | Long run: avg 168 bpm, 10:31 min/mile |
| Total | 26.0 miles | YTD: 54.9 miles |
| 19/01 | - | Rest day |
| 20/01 | 6.0 miles | Speedwork: 5x1000m in 5:06/5:02/5:00/5:02/5:03 (1 min) |
| 21/01 | XT | 60 min on elliptical plus weights |
| 22/01 | 4.5 miles | Tempo run (hard): 2.5 mi in 8:25/8:21/4:05 |
| 23/01 | - | Rest day |
| 24/01 | 9.0 miles | Race-sim long run: 1-6 avg 161 bpm, 10:47 min/mile; 7-9 avg 177 bpm 8:54 min/mile |
| 25/01 | 4.0 miles | Recovery run: avg 164 bpm, 10:32 min/mile |
| Total | 23.5 miles | YTD: 78.4 miles |
I thought that it would be interesting to compare the above two training tables with the last time I used this program in 2007 (see week 1 and week 2). I definitely came into training in 2007 with a better base (I was coming off a PB at the Victoria Half) but generally I’d say I’m doing pretty well in comparison. My week 1 tempo run was slow but I think that was because it was my first tempo run in at least 6 weeks and I made the mistake of listening to podcasts on my iPod which detracted from the focus I need to run fast. My long run paces are intentionally slower this time around too but I was pleased that I was still able to pull off the last three miles of week 2′s race-simulation long run.
I’m actually having a lot of fun with the speedwork sessions. Because I only have to do the intervals at half marathon goal pace they don’t seem too bad. Actually I’ve been running them too quickly. The recovery time is much less than I would normally take though so I think that’s where the challenge lies. In any case, it’s a nice change from the mile repeats that I usually do.
Despite all this running and decent training times I definitely do not feel 100% in shape. Of course it doesn’t help that it’s cold (for Seattle) and dark in the mornings so it’s easy to feel sluggish. I swear one morning last week I went on a run and it was no lighter when I finished than when I started! I have a 5K race coming up in a few weeks which I’m going to run as a hard tempo run and use as a gauge of my fitness. I’d like to finish in <25:00 but we’ll see how it goes!
Half Marathon Training Starts Tomorrow
Tomorrow I start ten weeks of training for the Mercer Island Half Marathon. I’ve been meaning to do this race for a few years but this is the first year that I could guarantee in advance that I’d be in Seattle that weekend. I’ve decided to us the Ryan Hall Half Marathon Training Program featured in Runner’s World. I previously used the first five weeks of this program in training for the 2007 Fall Classic half marathon where I set my current personal best of 1:52:00.
Setting a new half marathon personal best is one of my goals of 2009. Actually what I’d really like to do is beat 1:50:00. I’m not sure that Mercer Island is the place to make that happen though. The course is rather hilly and I’m not coming into training with the greatest base. I’ve been running pretty consistently for the past three weeks (about 20 miles per week) but I haven’t done any speed work or tempo runs since before the marathon in November. We’ll see how it goes!
