1/2 Marathon Training: 3.1 Mile Run + Programming Notes

I woke up today and my back was feeling so much better. I did some more intense stretching, ala P90X warm-ups, and actually had a little sweat going before stepping outside and this really made me feel good!

According to the weather report we were supposed to have had a cold front move through last night and the humidity was to be drastically reduced. Well, I walked outside with the pugs and this was not the case! Brutal humidity - 84 degrees at 6am! Probably a good thing because the back will stay looser with this weather. However, shortly after the run the front came through and is still coming through and the temperature is 62 degrees right now. That is freezing for us Texans! I am wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt right now.

Anyways, my next decision was do I just do the light 30 minute run that is planned for my 1/2 mary training program or do I bust ass and see what pace time I can do for the 5k? Coming off some back pain the easy 30 minute run was, without question the right answer. But if you are a frequent reader of my blog you probably know already that I did the bust ass 5k sprint!

Yep, I started off fast and it was a killer. I got the HR up to 170bpm in the first mile and by mile two it was up to 178 bpm! I have been doing a lot of aerobic base training lately and the uncomfortable anaerobic zone accounted for about 85% of my run today. Hard but awesome! According to my Garmin 305 my time for the 3.1 miles was 22:06. That is a PR for me in a 5k by more than a minute and my middle mile was done in 6:52. Which is the first time I have done a sub-7 minute mile since I started running.

One mistake I made was that I did not bring any hydration with me. I figured that it was such a short distance that I wouldn't need any water or Gatorade --WRONG! By the time I finished mile 2 I was freaking thirsty. I am talking dry mouth, heaving thirsty! My last mile was 8:10 and I think I lost at least a minute because I was dehydrated. Normally that distance shouldn't really need that much hydration but I completely disregarded the humidity and that was a mistake. Oh well. live and learn!

So a couple of developments in the training department here in my household! Annie has decided that she is going to do the Austin Marathon as opposed to the Austin 1/2 Marathon on Feb 14th. I am proud of her and plan on helping her train as much as I can. I am still planning on doing the 1/2 mary. My reason for not doing the full distance is that I have committed to doing an Olympic Distance Triathlon in April. The swim portion of this Tri is an Ocean swim in the Gulf of Mexico. I cannot devote all of my training time to running if I plan on surviving the OWS in the Gulf. I'd like to do the marathon but am concerned the beating it will put my body through would adversely effect my Tri training. I might change my mind down the road but for now my focus is on Triathlon.

Another programming change is that since she is now doing a marathon we are ditching the Runner's World 1/2 Marathon Training program and picking up the Hal Higdon Marathon Training program on week 7. This pretty much starts where we are right now so the transition should be rather seamless. I plan on doing this until my Tri plan begins in December.

Also, I just ordered a new Garmin Forerunner 305 for Annie. When we run together we only need one but since she has committed to the Marathon I thought this would be a nice surprise gift for her to help keep her motivated! They are on sale at Amazon.com for $139.99, if anyone is interested. This is an awesome price for an awesome training device! Oh, if anyone reading this knows Annie don't mention it to her - Thanks!

Tomorrow is our normally scheduled long run (12 miles this week) but we are having a community wide garage sale (200 Homes are participating) that starts at 6am and we need to get rid of some junk so we are taking tomorrow off and doing the long run on Sunday morning instead. I might try and get a bike ride in tomorrow if I have time.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff