Half Marathon Training: An UNOFFICIAL PR!

I like to cut to the chase and keep it real on here. I readily admit my defeats and celebrate my victories. After my horrible performance at the Dover 10 Miler two weeks ago, I needed a strong run so I could gain my confidence back. Had my training peaked? Had I improved as much as I could and now it was time for the wheels to fall off? These are the questions I asked myself as I headed out for my warm up miles on Saturday morning. My workout was to be 10 miles at half marathon goal pace- <7:20.

The "cut to the chase, keep it real" story is that I ROCKED IT!!!! I set a new unofficial half marathon PR for myself: 1:35:57. Full disclosure: I stopped my Garmin when I took a quick pee and for about 20 seconds to answer my phone. (I had to make sure it wasn't Paul!)

I ran 2 warm up miles around my block. The first was an 8:09 and the second a 7:50. I ran inside my house and peed quickly and then BOOM out the carport I sprang. I had two 5 mile loops mapped out around my neighborhood. My hood is flat- this was not a hilly run. I didn't take water with me, which was stupid because even though I didn't feel thirsty, my pee was yellow when I was done. For the first couple miles, it was hard to stay a consistent pace, but I finally got in a rhythm where I could feel myself running at about a 7:15. After about mile 4, I stopped looking at my Garmin because I had been able to regulate my pace to something somewhat consistent.

After the first 5 mile loop, I felt a bit tired for the next half mile, but then I got some pep in my step and got back to the rhythm I had going. My IT band felt a little weak, and I knew it was going to ache the rest of the day. Oh well, I was just going to have to stretch, foam roll, and deal with it the best I could. As long as it didn't start to feel worse, I wasn't going to worry about it. (It didn't start to feel worse but it did ache later on in the day!)

Mid way through my second 5 mile loop, I started to feel very confident that I would reach my goal. My Garmin consistently showed about a 7:15 average pace. I was not running at a pace in which I would have been able to carry on a conversation, but my breathing was completing regulated and I had my shit together. This was NOTHING compared to that horrible hilly 10 miler in Dover. I didn't even feel like the same runner! Those hills will kill ya if you're not prepared... and I was not prepared for them!

Around mile 9.3, I started doing math in my head, and I realized that if I maintained my 7:15 pace for an extra 1.1 mile, I would hit an unofficial half marathon PR! Of course I had to go for it, especially because I still felt pretty good. My last two miles clocked in at 7:01 and 7:02, which definitely helped count balance those warm up miles!

Victory!

Now I don't have to go to Florida, right? Haha! 

Splits: 7:20, 7:15, 7:14, 7:18, 7:14, 7:17, 7:12, 7:17, 7:13, 7:01, 7:02

I recovered with a an hour of stretching and foam rolling (broken into 2 sessions), plus hours and hours of "pajama laying" (that is when you lay around in your pajamas). Once my stomach could handle it, I refueled with a tall glass of milk plus a full scoop of protein powder.

Boy do I look like my big brother in this picture!

What's next in my training, I don't know! I have to reevaluate what I have scheduled. The race is three weeks from today. Maybe next weekend I will do another long run with maybe just 7 miles at race pace and then start tapering. I am going to have to decide. But I would like to do 13.1 next weekend and have it be my last long run. But I wonder if I should do any miles at pace? What do you guys think?

Do you have any unofficial PRs?

What do you think I should do with my long run next weekend?