My First Two Real Runs

I've been a "runner" for more than 10 years now-- I've run two marathons, a handful of half marathons and done countless runs on the treadmill, around the track and on various trails.

But I've never done a real workout, or adopted a training plan that isn't purely "run x miles." In keeping with one of my resolutions for 2013 to set a new PR, I decided to tackle my upcoming half marathon a little bit differently (I signed up for the Twilight Half in Brisbane).

I had two requirements when I was searching for a plan: I only want to run 3 days a week and I wanted to find a plan that incorporated more speedwork. I stumbled across this plan from Runner's World and really liked that not only did it fit both requirements but that it also spelled out how to tackle all of the workouts and with what speed for me. Had I had to figure out how fast to attempt my 4 x 400s yesterday they for SURE would have been a lot slower.

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To figure out your pace for the workouts, you simply look at the chart Runner's World has provided to know how fast you'll need to run each mile on race day. Using that, you then base the speed work and tempo runs around that number. Now, I haven't run three consecutive miles in quite awhile (I've been doing more interval type runs) so I used the chart as a guideline-- ideally I'd like to run the half in under 1:50, but I used the 1:53:38 mile pace as my guide yesterday and today. I figure I can always get faster as training progresses?

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Let me tell you......both runs were tough. I guess that's the idea, right? 

Yesterday's "real" run: Five minute warm up at 6.5 MPH, 4 x 400 at 8.1 MPH with 2 minutes walking at 4.0 between each interval, 5 minute cool down

Today's "real" run: Five minute warm up at 6.0 MPH, 3 miles at 7.1 MPH, 5 minute cool down at 6.0

The first 10 minutes of today's run were great.....the rest of it was a struggle. I just kept telling myself "you don't want to have to blog that you walked" and that seemed to work! 

I'm excited that this plan will give me enough time to cross train with Body Pump and yoga, and hopefully push me enough to get close to or break my previous PR.

What training plan do you use to train? How have you shaved time off your mile?