One week

It’s now one week away. My first half marathon, that is. Yes, it’s really only half the distance of my ultimate goal, but 21.1 km (13 miles) is nothing to sneeze at. It’s not exactly a walk in the park.

I have been fairly stressed out about how my training is going. I’ve been following Sue’s plan exclusively, and doing my long runs with the three women I met through Sue and Tread Powerfully. (We’re getting to be known as the “Fearsome Foursome,” which is a great name!) So far, we’ve been having a great time running together. We’re all moms, we all love to run and we all believe very strongly in the benefits of regular exercise. It’s nice to have a group to run with that I also have a lot in common with.

Still, I’ve been worried about the distance. Sue’s plan is short (9 weeks), and is, according to her, based on trying to run a half marathon while still working, having small children and having a life in general. There’s no hill training, just what feels like endless aerobic intervals (AIs) that I am really beginning to hate. Last Wednesday, for example, I had to do two 2-minute AIs, two 3-minute AIs and two 4-minute AIs. It’s tough… crazy tough. The idea is that by pushing the pace on your practice runs, your normal pace becomes more comfortable. I feel like it just tires me out! (Well, that and every run lately is over 10K, which isn’t always fun!)

Last weekend, we ran 18K, and yesterday I ran 13, and both felt pretty good. I’m having a bit of an issue with my glute muscle, but I have a massage booked on Wednesday and I’ve been stretching and taking Epsom salt baths. As long as it holds out, I think I’ll be okay.

Is that enough? That’s the real question. I have decided not to worry too much about my time. I know I will never run a two-hour half marathon, so what’s the point of even thinking about it? The point is to run the best I can run. Sure, those elite runners will finish it in an hour, and there are even plenty of men and women my age (and a lot older too), who will run it between 1:40 and 1:50. Are they in better shape than I am? Probably. But some people just naturally run faster than others. I’m in very good shape, and will do the best that I can do.

So what is that, realistically? I once read somewhere that you should have three goals: an “excellent” goal (what you can run if conditions are perfect), a “good” goal (something that will make you happy but takes into account race-day conditions) and a “if I do this I will be happy” goal (i.e. finishing the race.) So here are mine:

Excellent goal: 2:15 – 2:20
Good goal: 2:20 – 2:30
If I do this I will be happy: 2:30 – 2:40.

Anything more than 2:40 and I will be disappointed in my performance. As it stands after our 18K, I think I will come in somewhere around the 2:20 mark… maybe 2:23. I’ll make that my official guess.

This week, training takes a bit of a backseat as we start to rest before the race. I have two more runs, one AI run (but much shorter than usual), a Tread Powerfully class, an Intense Strength class and maybe I’ll find time to do one more short, easy run. On Saturday night, the plan is to have a nice spaghetti dinner, but no wine! Sunday morning breakfast will be a big bowl of oatmeal, then it’s off to the race for 10:05 a.m.

I’m nervous already!

Happy trails…