One month of training and the progress has been slow but steady. Logged 90 miles for the month that has seen my long Sunday runs progress from 5 miles to 7 miles. What a wonderful month of January we've had on the north coast. There were only two days that I had to move my runs to indoor on the treadmill due to weather, and only two others that I had to utilize my Yak Trax outside. My goal for the month was strictly to build a mileage base so that I could continue to build up my endurance and reduce the risk of injury once the training intensity increase as the half marathon date grew closer. I did not try to run faster, but that ended up being a product of my training.
Here are the weekly summaries of my first month of training.
Week 1: 19.13 Miles ran; Average pace 12:58, longest run 5.6 miles
Week 2: 19.51 miles ran; average pace (12:07); longest run 6.11 miles
Week 3: 19.86 miles ran; average pace (11:28); longest run 6.11 miles
Week 4: 20.54 miles ran; average pace (11:20); longest run 7 miles.
I'm beginning to think that my stated goal of a 2 hour and 30 minute half marathon may have been too conservative. My long runs have settled into a comfortable pace of about 11:15 per mile with no emphasis on speed. I feel that if I get to the starting line healthy that maintaining an 11:15 pace is certainly achievable and that would put my half marathon time at 2:27:29. With that said, my only goal for this first half marathon is to get to the starting line healthy and to finish with a smile on my face.
