That Didn't Suck As Much As I Thought

When I first downloaded the FIRST half-marathon plan, I was nervous. The paces were fast!

I guess that's the point of Run Less Run Faster, huh?

Now, I haven't gotten the long runs in yet (I'm just on week 2). Last week I did a 7 mile run, but not an 8. This Saturday I am hoping to get in the 9 mile run. I am running a little more than the plan says, trying to stay at a minimum of 25 miles/week.

I estimate my 10k pace to be an 8 min/mile, making my projected half marathon pace 8:20. This is even faster than the 8:27 I was targeting for Drake! The long runs are supposed to be pretty darn fast - HM pace plus 20 seconds vs the usual 1-2 min slower pace that most training plans ask for.

However, since I am running more miles, I decided that I will give myself a break on the long runs. Right now, I am just going to try to get through them. Especially with the hot weather we have had lately - 104* yesterday!

Due to the crazy hot weather, I have been spending most of my time on the treadmill.



The other two key workouts are an interval day and a tempo day. The plan prescribes your pace based on your 10k pace.

Last week the intervals were 12 x 400m @ 10k pace less 55 - 60 seconds. That should have been 7:05 - 7:00 pace, but that seemed really scary. I did them at 7:08 pace on the treadmill and was happy with that.

Last week's tempo run was 2 miles easy, 3 miles @ 8 min pace, 1 mile easy. I was a little worried because 8 min pace sounds fast to me still, but I reminded myself that I ran a 7:34 pace 5k, this is no big deal. It really wasn't bad.

This week's interval run was 400m/600m/800m/1200m/800m/600m/400m with a 1 mile warm up and cool down, and a 400m active recovery in between. This one scared me. Yes, still 3 miles of intervals like the week before, but last week was a 90 sec standing recovery. I opted to walk this recovery interval instead of jog it - I would take the pace down to 4 mph, then after walking 300m, I would start dialing up the pace so that I would be at interval pace right when the interval distance started.

The interval paces were 7:03/7:08/7:13/7:19 - and then back up as you worked back through the shorter distances.

You know, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought? I was really worried about the 1200m interval, and then reminded myself that the first mile of that 5k was 7:18 pace.

This week's tempo run was 5 miles @ 8:15 which I did at an 8:13 pace. To avoid treadmill boredowm I would do 400m @ 8:13, 400m @ 8:06, 400m @ 8:13, 400m @ 8:20 - and repeat for a total of five miles.

So far, I am really enjoying this plan. I am not looking to "beat" the paces prescribed here, and while they are challenging workouts, they are not impossible. The interval workouts really go very fast, and it's pretty cool to see those paces, even if it's not for a long time.

I'm not officially signing up for a half-marathon, just because I like to injure myself two weeks before a big race that I have trained for. I am going to follow this plan and see how it goes, if a race pops up that fits into my schedule and I am feeling well trained, I will go for it!

In the meantime, I am looking to run some more 5k's and 10k's this summer. The great thing about this plan is that the interval work will help my pace for these races as well. I would like to run a 5k sub 23 min and a 10k sub 50 min.

What are your goals for the summer?

I'm also doing a great job sticking with My Fitness Pal - today was 25 days of logging in a row, and it truly has become a habit now. Friending people on there was definitely the key to my success. The scale is slowly going down (like, a pound in the last 25 days), but I am learning as I go. Like, I just learned that the defaults for calorie burn are too high - for running it's based on weight/pace/time - and they used to be accurate. But yesterday I wore an HRM and tracked the calorie burn and it was about 75 cals less for a 5 mile run! Yay that I've become better at running, boo for it not burning as many calories.