New Personal Record for Half Marathon at 1:52:23

I’m still catching up for the training lapse last week. Today is normally an Easy run, but I made up my Long run from Sunday. And, to further punish myself for the poor training, I decided to run a full half marathon. I have never run this long (almost 2 hours), or this far (13.1 miles) in my life until today!

Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 8:45am
Target: 8 mile LONG run at 9:26/mile pace
Actual: 13.1 miles = 1:52:23 (8:34 pace)
Total ascent = 1,742 feet
Total descent = 1,881 feet
Woohoo! I set out today to run 11 or 12 miles to make up the Long run from Sunday. Felt great mid-run and decided to go for it and do a full half marathon. It’s my first ever! Here’s my splits:

Mile 1 = 8:16/mile pace
Mile 2 = 7:53 (headed down hill outside of Javea)
Mile 3 = 8:29
Mile 4 = 8:03
Mile 5 = 8:30
Mile 6 = 8:38
Mile 7 = 8:51 (climbing up hill to Jesus Pobre)
Mile 8 = 8:39 (still going up)
Mile 9 = 8:11
Mile 10 = 8:33
Mile 11 = 8:25
Mile 12 = 8:50 (running out of fuel – need more liquids)
Mile 13 = 9:51 (slowed as I headed up el Montgo for last 0.25 mile)
Mile 13.1 = 11:21 (0.1 mile still going up el Montgo…ouch!)

“Cooled down” by walking another 0.25 mile up el Montgo. Needed lots of water and Gatorade when I got back to the villa.

Week 4: Unplanned Break

It was bound to happen at some point. This past week I got off the training plan. My family went to Valencia for 3 days of site seeing and shopping. It was originally only going to be 2 days with 1 overnight stay in a hotel, so I didn’t take my running gear. Guess what happened…my schedule was blown to pieces! Clearly this is not acceptable.

Sunday, 12 October 2008, 5:00
Target: 6 mile TEMPO run at 7:55/mile pace (1 mile warmup and 1 mile cool-down)
Actual: 6 mile TEMPO at 8:01 pace
Sunday was supposed to be an 8 mile Long run. I made up the missed Tempo run instead. I came back on Sunday from Valencia and hit the road. Didn’t go great. It could have been much worse I suppose. But running at 5pm (instead of my normal morning runs), a lack of hydration, 90% humidity, and being loaded down from a couple beers at lunch all contributed to a sub-par effort.

Friday, 9 October 2008
Missed the workout. It was supposed to be a 4 mile Easy run. Skipped this workout.

Thursday, 9 October 2008
Missed the workout. It was supposed to be a Tempo run, which I made up on Sunday.

Tuesday, 7 October 2008, 8:45am
Target: 4 mile EASY run at 9:26/mile pace
Actual: 4 miles = 35:58 (8:59 pace)
Topped off the run with 6 hill sprints and a 0.25 mile walk up el Montgo.

Week 3 Recap: Increasing Mileage

Another good week, and I haven’t noticed any issues with the extra mileage. I know I’m cheating a bit on my 9 week half marathon program, but the running feels good (the 3 mile easy runs at 9:26/mile pace don’t seem like real workouts). Will keep an eye on my body to make sure I don’t cause any injuries. Midway through the program there is an easy mileage week to give the body time to heal and recover. Need to keep this in mind.

The Tempo work was consistent and better than the previous tempo run from 2 weeks ago. I lengthened the Easy runs and then added (5) 10-second hill sprints. The Long run on Sunday was my best run so far with great pacing.
Total miles for the week = 24.75

Sunday, 5 October 2008, 8:30am
Target: 8 mile LONG run at 9:26/mile pace
Actual: 11 miles = 1:36:09 (8:44 pace)
Ran to the west side of Javea, then thru les Valls (watching the old men harvest olives) all the way to the far side of Jesus Pobre (up to the old windmill ruins), then back down in the valleys, and finally straight up el Montgo. Great run this morning! It started out a bit cool, but quickly warmed up. I had a small cramp around mile 5, but ran it out by altering my breathing pattern. Pacing was great through the first 10 miles, then the last mile I slowed down considerably as I jogged, very slowly, straight up el Montgo to finish. That last 1/2 mile with 400 feet of ascent was very tough. Seems like my feet were hardly moving. I finished without any extra fuel in my bottles- needed one more bottle of Isotonica on my belt for this run. I also noticed my stomach “sloshing” around mile 10, which I think means I needed more liquids. All-in-all, it was a great effort…in fact it’s the longest I’ve ever run in my life!

Friday, 3 October 2008, 8:45am
Target: 3 mile EASY run at 9:26/mile pace
Actual: 4 miles = 35:45 (8:56 pace)
Cooler, slightly cloudy and humid. Added an extra mile onto the workout, then finished with 5 hill sprints and a 0.25 mile walk up el Montgo.

Thursday, 2 October 2008, 8:45am
Target: 5 mile TEMPO run at 7:55/mile pace (includes 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cool-down)
Actual: 5.5 mile TEMPO at 7:53 pace
Cool, breezy and sunny morning. Solid and consistent 3 mile tempo run at 7:43 pace then added a 4th mile at 8:24 (including a brief walk to take a drink and catch my breath) before I did my cool-down. Ran with water today, and I definitely missed the extra energy from the sugars in Gatorade.

Tuesday 30 September 2008, 8:45am
Target: 3 mile EASY run at 9:26/mile pace
Actual: 4.25 miles = 39:08 (9:12 pace)
Nice sunny morning. Topped off the run with 5 hill sprints and a 0.25 mile walk up el Montgo.