4 miles in 38:11

I was hoping to complete this 4 mile run in 36 mminutes or less, and after reaching the turnaround point at 19 minutes, I thought it possible to return in 17 minutes, however, I just did not have the juice. I ran out of gas and ended up walking quite a bit on the way back.

In any event, with this finish time, the race predictor still has me finishing the Half Marathon in about 2:13.

I plan on running 9 miles on Sunday, on a special route that includes a good portion of the race course.

10 Miles in 1:39:52

This was a very satisfying run.  It was my intention to maintain a 10 minute pace throughout, and finish in about 1:40 and this goal was met.  I checked my time every 2 miles, and I was hitting all the markers at about 20 minutes.  There were a few unscheduled stops for the last 2 miles, but even with that, I was able to complete that segment in under 20 minutes.   I got to the turnaround point at 50:19 and my return trip was a little faster at 49:33; I love running negative splits!

 

 Now, using my favorite run predictor at  http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/rp.php?metres=16090&hr=1&min=39&sec=52&age=40&gender=M&Submit=Calculate I can do a Half Marathon in 2:13.  My goal is actually 2:10.  So, the question is, can I run the first 10 miles just like I did today, and finish the last 5K in 30 minutes?   If the answer to that is yes, then 2:10 is all mine! 

 

Next run will be 8 along the course.

 

4 miles in 42

This was not a good run either…It now seems that my bad runs are outnumbering my good runs.  Maybe I need to reset expectations on what “good” is.  I may be setting the bar too high for my current conditioning.  For example, 37 minutes would have met the  “good” expectation for this distance; well, is that pace a possibility for me nowadays?

 

The fact that I am questioning myself is not a good thing.  Doubt has crept into my psyche, and I need to eradicate it before the half marathon in 19 days.

 

 

13 miles in 2:48

There is definitely a disturbing trend here. I do not seem to be improving, in fact, I appear to be getting worse. Of course, I did get dehydrated yesterday after mowing, and I was running on only 2 hours of sleep, but this peformance was very very disappointing. I was running with MS and she did a good job of trying to keep me going (and she got me ice from 7-11 on the way home), but at some point I was taking so long, she had to leave me.

Tuesday is my next run, and I will need to do 5 miles easy...well 26 easy out and 23 back.

5 miles in undisclosed time

I am not proud of this time so I will not post it. It had been over a week since I last ran, and combined with the warm temperatures, conditions were not conducive to a solid run.

I did use the opportunity to do a few short bursts of speed intervals, but with less than 4 weeks left until the half marathon, I am not sure if that will help me meet my 2:00 goal.

9 miles in 1:32:05

Not too bad I guess. My aim was to finish between 1:30 and 1:35, and this was perfectly in the middle of that range. At some point though, i need to average better than 10 minute miles for an extended period of time.