Half marathon training just got so much harder...

How is everyone? I've had this post in draft for almost a week now! Dear me!

I ran intervals last Sunday, they ended up being a bit rushed as I had to do them and fit in a shower and a food shop before work! I was supposed to be doing 800m intervals but decided to do 1600m intervals to lessen the rest time! I also kept the warm up and cool down short to save time. It's better than not doing anything right?

400m warm up
1600m - 6.59 (7.47)
1600m - 7.13 (7.47)
800m - 3.28 (3.44)
400m cool down

1.30 RI

3.5 miles in total

Now, pretty much same thing happened with my tempo run.. It was supposed to be 2M warm up, 3M short tempo and 1M cool down. Well I totally ran out of time before work to fit all of that in and get a shower... Much as I'd love to skip the shower it would be unkind to my colleagues so I decided to do a 5k time trial instead. I was feeling stressed out and I knew a good fast run would make me feel a bit better!

0.5 mile warm-up (a little fast at 9.03 pace!)

5k time trial
Mile 1 - 7.18
Mile 2 - 7.39
Mile 3 - 7.28
0.1 - 0.42 (7.13 pace)
=5k in 23.08!! 7.28 pace :D
Also 2 miles along the way came in 14.57 so that's another goal ticked off! woop woop!

Funnily one of my colleagues said to me the day after 'I think I saw you running near my daughter's school' which was right near the end of my run.. I said did I look like I was dying and she said yes! Haha I always think I must look awful at the end of a really tough run and now I've been spotted!

Now, whilst I'm ecstatic to have shaved 1.43 off my previous 5k time I am now dreading the rest of my half training plan. The times of my long runs, tempo runs and intervals are based on my 5k time and I'm not sure I can acheive them anymore. I'll try though :-) And if it gives me a super speedy half it will be so worth it!

New interval paces
400m - 1.42
600m - 2.35
800m - 3.28
1000m - 4.22
1200m - 5.18
1600m - 7.11
2000m - 9.04

ok, they're probably just doable....

Tempo paces
Short tempo - 7.44
Mid tempo - 7.59
Long tempo - 8.14
Easy - 9.19

ummmm.... help?! Even my easy pace is scary haha! Time will tell, I'll give it a good go! Maybe I'm faster than I realise... I suspect that's wishful thinking, I think I'm just faster over shorter distances..

This plan puts my MP at 8.36.... My HMP which is what I'll be using for long runs as it stands and plus 20-30s per mile depending on the week is 8.16. I would love to run a half at that pace but I don't feel like it's possible at the moment. We'll see. I'd still be ecstatic to break 2hrs and that remains my main goal I doubt whether that's possible on the course I'm doing!

After all that speed work recently intervals x 2 and my fastest yet 5k being my last three runs I was somewhat relieved that my next run was 10 miles, easy, at no specific pace. I did my best to include hills, ignore the pace on the watch and run slowly. I even stopped a few times to pet some horses. I wish I'd had my camera there was a very cute black foal and a really loving black and white horse who snuggled her nose right into me ahhhhh very happy pit stops!

I structured my run in a way to include a long hill twice - basically I ran up and down one side then I ran up and down the other side to try and make it slightly more interesting!! This took me almost 5 miles. Then I ran another 5 mile loop which was flat. Surprisingly it felt ten times harder but I think this was due to the wind becoming strong towards the end of my run.

10 miles in 1:36:09 average pace 9.37
Mile 1 - 9.17
Mile 2 - 9.38
Mile 3 - 9.17
Mile 4 - 9.53
Mile 5 - 9.22
Mile 6 - 9.51
Mile 7 - 9.56
Mile 8 - 9.27
Mile 9 - 9.53
Mile 10 - 9.35

All in all this slow run felt so much harder than my 9.7 mile run of last week where my average pace was 8.57.. It wasn't my lungs as it usually is that lets me down it was my body. I just felt achey the whole way, my shoulder was stiff and sore every time I moved it and my lower back begun to ache in the latter half. I'm guessing those few recent speedy sessions have caught up with me. I almost waited until today to run but I changed my mind. I was feeling low yesterday and I thought a run would boost my spirits a bit. I'm still glad I did it yesterday. The weather is grey and drizzly today! I also might have been a bit overdressed for the run as it was lovely and sunny yesterday. I wore a jumper which was quite obviously a mistake from 0.5 miles in! Oh well, I told myself it would be good practice for coping with the almost inevitible heat of the half I'm doing!

Hope everyone's enjoying the weekend I'm doing as little as possible today after tidying the whole house, sorting out a mountain of washing and running 10 miles yesterday, what are Sundays for!