Speeding up
It would help if I had looked at my half marathon training schedule on the internet before logging off to go to bed last night, so I ended up making something up. Recently I've been doing roughly 4 miles on a Thursday, with short bursts of speed. Today I decided to carry that on, making the bursts another 30 seconds longer (I've gone from 30 second bursts to 90), and by making the recovery period a little faster (and shorter by those extra 30 seconds).
Today I managed 4 miles in 36 minutes, which is my fastest yet and gets me to 9 minute miles. I've definitely got faster since I started adding more structure to my training, which can only be a good sign. I'm not claiming I'd be able to sustain a 9 minutes per mile pace for that much longer at the moment, but maybe one day, who knows? (If I could sustain it for 26.2 miles I'd break 4 hours, but I'm not convinced that is going to happen!)
I do like doing my speed runs on the treadmill, as I can keep an eye on exactly how fast I'm going and for how long, and it's a softer surface than the road. The only problem is that the New Years Resolutioners are still clogging up the gym and this morning I had to wait for a treadmill, then felt guilty for going over the requested 15 minute maximum. Still, if I'd stopped I'd have been the only person to pay attention to that, so I just kept on running.
I'm busily planning out a route for my long run this weekend. Typically, the next few weekends before Blackpool are relatively busy and I might find it harder to fit a long run in, so I want this to be a good one. I've found a couple of possibilities depending on the weather and visibility (I'm not running down country lanes in fog or rain, but if it's bright I've found a nice looking route out of town) which should put me just past the 10 mile mark. I'm actually looking forward to doing a long run, as 4 miles is starting to feel a bit short, like I've only just got going when I need to stop! Is this me?
Today I managed 4 miles in 36 minutes, which is my fastest yet and gets me to 9 minute miles. I've definitely got faster since I started adding more structure to my training, which can only be a good sign. I'm not claiming I'd be able to sustain a 9 minutes per mile pace for that much longer at the moment, but maybe one day, who knows? (If I could sustain it for 26.2 miles I'd break 4 hours, but I'm not convinced that is going to happen!)
I do like doing my speed runs on the treadmill, as I can keep an eye on exactly how fast I'm going and for how long, and it's a softer surface than the road. The only problem is that the New Years Resolutioners are still clogging up the gym and this morning I had to wait for a treadmill, then felt guilty for going over the requested 15 minute maximum. Still, if I'd stopped I'd have been the only person to pay attention to that, so I just kept on running.
I'm busily planning out a route for my long run this weekend. Typically, the next few weekends before Blackpool are relatively busy and I might find it harder to fit a long run in, so I want this to be a good one. I've found a couple of possibilities depending on the weather and visibility (I'm not running down country lanes in fog or rain, but if it's bright I've found a nice looking route out of town) which should put me just past the 10 mile mark. I'm actually looking forward to doing a long run, as 4 miles is starting to feel a bit short, like I've only just got going when I need to stop! Is this me?
posted by YP at 10:33 PM
1 Comments:
Wow. I've been reading your blog for a few months now, and your love of running inspires me. I'm back into it after many years of absence. When I read about you thinking 4 mile runs are short, I remember what I can aspire to myself. Thanks for being so candid. And congrats on your success and on your marathon entry! I'll be rooting for you from Canada!
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