Thursday, November 19, 2009

Half Marathon Grand Prix

So it was bound to happen, I apologize.  I felt like I had nothing to blog about, not that I haven’t been running.  I’ve actually been very purposeful in my running.  It’s hard after a marathon, or any big running event, to find purpose.  I had focused on my training for NYC since the beginning of June until November 1.  There is a sense of “now what” since finishing the marathon.  It happened last year after Newport as well.  It’s hard to overcome, because on one hand you want to look at what is next, but on the other hand you are completely exhausted and to be frank sick of training.  Some are lucky enough to be able to run without purpose, I don’t have that skill.  After the New Bedford Half Marathon 2008 (my first distance race) my coach told me to just enjoy running for a while.  That lasted less than a week, before I called him and asked for more direction. 

So here I am, 3 weeks post NYC marathon.  I’ve been running 4 days a week and cross training 2 days a week.  Less exhaustion, no pain, SUCCESS!  Today, or yesterday to be exact I determined the next challenge…THE NEW YORK CITY HALF MARATHON GRAND PRIX.  1 year, 5 half marathons, Central Park, Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens…sounds like a blast.  What makes this exciting is that we will be racing with Joe’s sister for all 5 half marathons and on January 24th in Central Park I will be part of her very first half marathon!!

So what will be different?  Well I am committed to trying this on a 4 day a week running routine.  Mon, Wed, Fri with a long run on Saturday.  Bob would tell me this isn’t going to work, but I’m going to try it.  The one thing I have learned in 2.5 years of running is that 6+ days a week of running, for me, ends in injury.  Also going over 45 miles a week is also road to injury, again for my training.  This means I need to make a decision regarding track.  If I give a day to the track that means I will sacrifice some mileage.  I hope to get my mileage into the low 30’s for the first half marathon and close to the 40’s for the next few.  So do I aim for less mileage and go inside once a week, do I change my experience and add a day of running for a total of 5, or do I add pick up’s and tempos on the road?  My PR for a half marathon is 2:03:32, my goal is to reach the 1:50-1:59 window.  This is likely not to happen for Jan, but possibly for the next one.  God knows, I will have 5 tries before the end of 2010!! Suggestions?

Miles trained today: 3.08

Days until NYC Manhattan Half Marathon: 66

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