One Week Til Race Day and Ready to Rock!
This week I was planning 3 runs as usual but on Tuesday I still felt drained from the 12 miler I did last Sunday at 10 seconds per mile off my target pace for my half marathon. So I skipped Tuesday and opted to do a little bit more yoga than running this week especially since I have a little "thing" (not an injury yet) going on with my left leg that I wanted to give a few days to go away. That and my muscles were saying no...I don't believe in junk miles and Tuesday would have been junk miles and begging for an annoyance of an injury going into race week (no thanks).
I did two tempo runs this week--each five miles and the first I wanted to try and run at my targeted race pace of 7:40 per mile without looking at the pace on my watch too much to get the feel for it. I ended up with a 7:36 per mile average over those five miles and it felt pretty good. Not too hard at all actually!
I was a little bit inconsistent in the last 4 miles (the first was slower due to warmup pace for a quarter mile) but at least it was on the faster side of my goal pace and didn't feel faster to me than the other miles. My splits show the 2 miles I ran in under 7:30 but it's OK because that means I'm able to put a little bit of time in the bank by running a bit faster than 7:40 especially on the flats and downhills which will help me during the race.
Today's run was also 5 miles as I am not doing any more hard training like I had been in previous weeks with the race being so soon. Gotta love tapering. It feels good now that the 7:40 pace that I could barely keep for 3 miles less than 2 months ago feels very doable for the 13.1 miles I'll be running 7 days from now.
So basically for both runs I just wanted to get adjusted to running at my race pace and I feel I've accomplished that goal for the week. This coming week will consist of 2-3 shorter runs of even lower intensity which will be just enough to keep my body in tune with feeling good running but not enough to drain any precious energy that I'll need for the race.
I also started breaking in a new pair of shoes today...awful close to race time but I've actually run a half marathon before in a brand new pair of (never before worn) shoes and it turned out OK. The shoes felt fine to me but I think that's largely due to the fact that they're the exact same model of Asics that I was wearing. Go with what works, right?
This will be my last update on my race training until I post the results of the Knoxville Half Marathon this coming Sunday which I hope to run in less than 100 minutes. Who knows, maybe I'll even finish a few minutes faster. Wouldn't surprise me with how quickly I've regained my speed and endurance and how easy the 7:40 miles feel to me now. I won't break my all time record of 1:34:30 but I may come close...but next race I run of this distance I'm gonna shatter that six-year standing Personal best.
Well my PC is demanding a restart for its never-ending need for updates and it started the un-opt-outable restart countdown that I can't delay about 14 minutes ago so I'm wrapping up this post before the beloved forced updates are installed at the time of my computer's choosing (facepalm). I could always just wait it out and post it later but I'm trying to get used to this darn daylight savings shift and go to bed on time. Double facepalm!
Hope you all have a good weekend and I'm gonna hit post now before this ticking pseudo time bomb goes off...tick tock!
Keep running! And good luck for everything. :)
Go @cryptokeepr Go!!! You are going to break that time!!!
I feel pretty confident I have it in me now. Six weeks ago I had my doubts but the training paid off. I also noticed that when I don't use a treadmill at all for training and just run on the pavement or grass outside it makes me gain strength, speed, etc a lot faster. Six weeks was an incredibly short time to come so far. I can't wait til Sunday!
I'm not in favor of the treadmill use, I got injured using it in the past, so much soft pavement is also bad for your joints as well. The best is to vary as much as possible the type of pavement, prioritizing the type pavement on which you will run the target race.
Awesome! I think you'll have a great race! Enjoy your taper week, and I look forward to seeing your post-race update. :)
Oh and I look forward to posting it! I'm thinking 1:38:25. Yeah, that's the mark. We'll see!
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Hey John S. In case you missed it. I added this to a comment a couple of weeks ago but I am usually so late that you may have missed it. If I know like I think I do I think you will really enjoy this 2 minute video of a runner using a Continuous Follow: Skydio R1. Good music also!
I certainly did miss it and I apologize for not responding. I try to get back to people who comment but don't always manage it. Thanks for sharing this and I'll check it out in the morning when I'm drinking my coffee and preparing for Monday work...ugh. I gotta shut this computer down and go to bed.
Man that's some incredible scenery and I'd venture to guess that's somewhere just north of San Francisco? I think I see the Golden Gate bridge in the background as well as the skyline of the city. That's one beautiful part of the country and I haven't been in over a decade. I really do need to travel more :/
you decided decorate of your good dress and beautifull shoes.its really good.i am thanks to you good contribution of run project.i hope that,you running race very perfectly.best wishes to u.thanks to dear @cryptokeepr
Gotta love new running shoes. They can give you blisters the first couple of uses sometimes but thankfully that wasn't the case here. The difference in support of my feet was definitely noticeable. Glad I changed them out before the race.
yeah,dear your opinion very good. @cryptokeepr
Get out there, tie your shoelaces and run!
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