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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Trying Something New

The first time I trained for a half marathon, I started from scratch with zero running under my belt. My fuel belt that is. ;) And yes, I'm one of those people who run with those little belts on to carry my stuff. Though recently I created/invented/made something to replace it. More on that later. 
Anyway, the first training session, I started with a run/walk method: run 1 minute, walk 1. Then the next week, run 2 minutes, walk 1, working up to running straight for 30 minutes. The second time training, I only took a short break and it wasn't hard to work back up to 4-5 mile runs. Two months before the race, my long runs were up to 7-8 miles. Less than a month before the official 13.1 miles, I did my longest run at 12 miles. 

This time around, things are different. 
- I took a 4 month running hiatus. The longer the break, the harder it is to get back into it. 
- Dearest kept running. He's logged over 200 miles this year (compared to my measly 25 or so). It's definitely hard when the person you train with is way ahead of you. 
- We have further to run this year. Instead of the half at 13.1 miles, we're doing the Dumbo Double Dare- 6.2 on Saturday and then 13.1 on Sunday. 

On the bright side, things are already looking promising. Dearest suggested a different approach to my training. Instead of the walk/run method, I'm running straight through and adding a minute to my time each week. As of now, I'm at 21 minutes, running 4 times a week and it's going really well. I'm also running in the morning and surprisingly I don't mind waking up at dawn. Maybe it's a sign I'm getting old? ;) 
My time has also improved significantly. Last year during training I was averaging 11-11:30 min/mile. Our race clocked in at just under 11 min/mile. So far, I'm in the low 10 min/mile range. If I can keep up the pace, I'll put me around a 2hr 11min finish time- my goal is 2hr 15mins. Dearest runs his half regularly in 1hr 50min, so his goal for us is to finish in under 2 hrs...  Yes, I gave him the side eye. But judging by last year's time, even with our pace slowing dramatically at the end due to injury, adrenaline will do a lot. We'll just have to wait and see. :) 

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