So after the success of the Shamrock'N Half Marathon in Sacramento last week I have decided, once again, to adjust my goals for the year. Originally I had planned to get the half down to 1:40, then 1:35. Now I'm thinking that sub 1:30 is a good stretch goal. That's a pace of 6:52/mile, down 24 seconds from my PR. At some point, I'm going to spectacularly fail to cut the next 5 minutes off my time. Let's hope it's not this time around.....
To do this, I've got 2 more halves planned, before I turn my attention back to training for a full marathon.
......The test race: Santa Cruz - April 22nd - sub1:34 (7:10 pace)
......The goal race: Los Gatos - July 15th - sub1:30 (6:52 pace)
To do this I realise that I'm going to have to train a little harder and a lot smarter. I've been running a little inconsistently and have had too many back to back hard training days. I've decided to increase the training mileage to just over 50 mpw (from 40ish right now) but also restructure my weekly training so that it is a little more balanced. Hoping that the combination can somehow find me the 24 seconds per mile.
The planned typical week is going to be.....
- Monday - day off (I'm pretty confident about this day!)
- Tuesday - 5 miles easy (8:15-8:30 pace)
- Wednesday -8 miles tempo (1m easy, 6m at 7:15-7:30, 1m easy)
- Thursday - 7 miles easy (8:15-8:30 pace)
- Friday - 8 miles (5xmile repeats at 6:45-6:55, 60-90 sec recovery)
- Saturday - 6 miles easy (8:15-8:30 pace)
- Sunday - 14-18 miles long (first 3/4 at 8:15-30, 1/4 at race pace)
- Total 48-52 mpw
It'll take me a few weeks to get there from where I am right now, but I have a solid 12 week stretch between Santa Cruz and Los Gatos. I also need to drop a 5K and a 10K in there somewhere to check fitness/readiness.
If I can somehow run under 1:30 in July, I should be in a great position as I move into a 20 week training program for the December full marathon. Maybe this time I will actually be able to run the whole thing!
1 comment:
Alan, you should do a post on what you do for a warm up and cool down after each run. It is likely pretty standard but I am interested. I use to have a nasty tendency of pulling random parts from incomplete stretching so I am curious.
BTW, I am up to ~37-40 miles per week.
On my elliptical... :)
I know it doesn't count. On real pavement I'd likely run half as fast, a quarter the distance, with 3 times the recovery period.
But I suck less than before. Always a goal.
Post a Comment