Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Sub-9 minute mile!

Last night I decided to sign up for the Capitol City Half Marathon in Columbus, Ohio on May 7.  I figured that since I'm training to run 6+ miles twice for the Poco Loco (out, rest, then back), I might as well use that earned endurance for a half marathon (13.1 miles), too. 

I did a half marathon in 2008, but it was a totally different situation then.  I was a newer runner, had never done anywhere near that distance, and was starting with a fitness level lower than I have now.  I looked at my 2008 training plan and knew I'd have to do something totally different this time.  I used the Runner's World Smart Coach, but the resulting plan wasn't what I was looking for, either.  My husband thought I should seriously consider the Galloway method, so I spent about 30 minutes reviewing the Half Marathon training book by Galloway that I read this summer.  I'm intimidated by all the math and drills and such required to do the pure Galloway method.  I have enough trouble finding time to actually run and track/blog it.  Adding all that other overhead is de-motivating.
As I was reviewing the Galloway method though, Ken asked me what my Time Trial Mile would be (pace is calculated on a mile time trial).  I guessed 9:30 or 9:15 if I just ran just one timed mile.  With a 9:30 time trial the book provided an estimate that I could do a 2:29:20 half marathon.  Wow, that's almost exactly what I ran in 2008 (2:29:10) - that's a pretty impressive estimate.

In the end, I decided to make up my own plan.  The plan called for me to do a 3 mile tempo run (a faster longer run) today.  However, since I was intrigued by the idea of figuring out my time trial mile, I incorporated a timed mile on the RPAC track tonight.

First I ran 1 mile as fast as I could and was surprised to see my watch display 8:53:56; a sub-9 minute mile!  . . . And not just 8:53 pace for a little while . . . I kept it up for the whole mile. 

Instead of stopping after the fast mile, I kept the clock running, walked to get a drink and then took off on the track again and to run a second mile in 9:30:09.  Again, I took a drink break on the clock and took off to run a third mile in 9:56:08.  My 5K was 29:22.  I cooled down by walking a half mile off the clock.

Obviously, I'm pretty excited about the run!

2 comments:

  1. Congrats Kelly....that is great running! You should be very proud, but most importantly, encouraged by the indications for your training. I think you have a plan that can work and one that instead of being complex and confusing, will be your guide. Much better to think about the running, rather than the the plan : - ). Go get'em Kelly.

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  2. Yea Kelly! I signed up for a half also and am making up my own plan also. I used Smart coach but the long runs were only 7 (what's up with that?) and the runs during the week were longer than I have time for. Good luck!

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