Training Report

Training Update for The Shamrock'n 1/2 Marathon...

I started training for my 1/2 a few months ago when I signed up to run Shamrock'n on 11/1/11. I signed up the day the it became available. I trained diligently for the first 4 weeks and even ran a 10k on Thanksgiving morning. But then stuff with my family went sideways and work pushed me even further off course. I was traveling back to the bay area twice a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas either for my family drama or for Hubbs family drama and work was super busy and I never got off at the same time twice. I was working late, going in early...and really didn't have the energy to train between the family drama and work. So I didn't, I didn't train one little bit. I think I got in two runs for all of December.

My longest run prior to all the happy fun time was 8.5 miles. I was pretty happy with those 8.5 miles. They were long but I did them and I was looking forward to longer runs. My goal was to run about 20 miles pre-1/2 marathon so that 13.1 miles would be a cake walk. But life got in the way. Stupid life.

Since Christmas, family drama and work have died down to a more manageable level. I started my training back up at the first of the year. My long runs are scheduled for Sundays. First Sunday back was 7 miles and I wasn't sure it wasn't going to kill me. But it didn't and while it wasn't great, it wasn't horrible either. I am not designed to be a speedster, slow and long are my style. But I just couldn't get into the rhythm of the run but I didn't give up and I got through it.

Second Sunday long run was just this last Sunday. 8 miles. It was good, really good. Before my break I was running my long runs at about an 11 minute mile. Not horrible but long runs are supposed to be long and slow. The point is to teach your muscles you can go a long ways. I get that. But after last week when I really tried to push my pace time more toward 10:15 pace on my short runs and actually do tempo runs, my pace was a bit different for my long run. My average pace for the 8 miles was 10:28 per mile. That's 30 seconds faster then normal. And I felt good for the entire run, despite the wind coming in out of the west.

I guess those tempo runs are paying off. I'm loosely following a training schedule that I got from Runners World and this coming Sunday is supposed to be a short run because they have a 5k race scheduled for Saturday. But I won't be racing. Right now I can't afford to pay to race and I'd rather push the schedule so that I'm running further then the 10 miles the plan calls for before the race. I don't want to over train but I don't want to surprise my body with an extra 3 miles it's never run before on race day. I've always trained further then the actual race I'm running. That way I feel more prepared then I have to be and I tend to enjoy the race more...I hope.

13.1 miles is kind of scary. Honestly, race day is scary for me. Even for a 5k I find myself standing at the starting line wishing I hadn't signed myself up for this torture but after the first mile, I generally start to enjoy myself. And I'm sure that history will repeat itself for this race too.