Feeling great!

I'm very happy to report that I'm staying on track and have been feeling great! I'm loosely following a half marathon training guide from Runner's World, courtesy of a fellow runner (thanks Jacy, for scanning it and e-mailing it to me!). They suggest running a 10k as a tune-up race 5 weeks before the half. As luck would have it, I had already registered for a 10k that just happens to be 5 weeks before my half. They actually want you to run 8 miles (1 mile warm-up and 1 mile cool down), but I'll probably just run an easy 2 miles when I get home.

Here's my log for the last week and a half:

April 6, 6:09pm:
2.50 miles
29:16 minutes
11:42 avg. pace

April 8, 1:30pm:
5.01 miles (my gps screwed up and I had to reset it. I actually ran about 5.50 miles)
59:54 minutes
11:57 avg. pace

April 10, 6:05pm:
2.22 miles
25:33 minutes
11:31 avg. pace

April 15, 12:18pm:
6.31 miles (woohoo!)
1 hour, 19 minutes
12:36 avg. pace

I am so ecstatic to have run 6 miles! My goal was to run 6.2 so I would feel confident running the 10k next week. I was nervous because I had visitors Thursday-Sunday and didn't get a chance to run while they were here. Then we went out to breakfast Sunday morning and I had to wait a little bit to run. But I felt pretty good and didn't need to stop. I expected to be sore yesterday but I actually felt great. I even went for a mile walk with my coworkers. I'm seriously amazed by how great I feel. It's a huge motivator to keep going!

I'm running a 5k this Saturday then running 7 miles Sunday. The 10k is next Sunday, April 29. The guide I'm following says to run 10 miles 3 weeks before the race, then 12, then 9, then the half. I will definitely run 10. I'm really nervous about 12 though! It's not only the physical strain, but the time it takes. I'll do what I can though and no matter what, I know I'll finish my first half feeling good! My goal is to finish in under 3 hours. I definitely think that's a reasonable goal, especially given my pace for the 6 mile run.

I'm going to start increasing the distance on the shorter runs, though not by too much. I push Jack on those runs and he can only stand so much. He does really well for about a half hour and as long as I bribe him with going to the park afterwards, I think I can manage 3 miles. I'll see how it goes tonight!