Charleston Half Marathon Week One

I started training for my goal race this week. Originally I was going to run the Charleston Marathon in January, but after my last training cycle I have decided the smart move is to sharpen myself up and race a strong half marathon. I never really felt like I've put in the work to run fast. Whether an injury has interrupted my training plan or I have burned out halfway through my cycle I have yet to go into a race feeling 100% ready to run. Something inside of me tells me that now is the time to push. Being a tweeker, I am constantly experimenting with my body. I take my training seriously, and am becoming more aware of myself as I get older, sometimes getting the tweaks just right. This cycle, I am going to just go for it. I have decided to give the next 12 weeks of training everything I've got and just go for it. How? That is the question. I have chosen to follow an advanced 10k plan from Hansons Running to frame out my training cycle. Coming off of almost 25 weeks of strength/core and conditioning I feel that the speed work / tempo work / and faster than normal easy runs of an advanced 10k plan will chisel my body down into a well honed machine. Its always and experiment, and I am ready for the challenge. Week One : 57 Miles Day one : 10k @ 7:34 pace.. Its hard for me to pace easy runs faster and not push at the same time. Should have been between 7:38-8:30 pace. I need to find that pace or I will not be able to survive. Day two: 12x400 meters @ 5k pace wo/cd - Kind of boring.. The recovery of 400m made this feel like the wo was taking forever. Stride is choppy @ 6:00 mpm felt like going faster.. but Im doing what the plan says. Ran 2 mile wo and 1 mile cd for 9. Not the greatest workout. I normally run my repeats much faster, and do a standing rest. The rest 400m of this workout just felt a little too long.. But, I have committed to this plan and will stick to it. Day three: 10k @ 7:36 pace.. I just tried to be comfortable here.. I guess Im going to hard.. Im sure we will find out when we tempo tomorrow.. Felt good.. Don't know how Im going to run like this until January but… you know. Day Four: 2 mile wo / 3 miles @ hmp 2 mile cd total of 7.. Felt a little forced and my stride felt off.. Its going to take some time before I can string together days like this and feel like running hard.. 6:45 pace Day Five: 8 miles @ 7:43 in the rain.. Felt pretty good.. My legs are tired. Will try to slow down for the scheduled 8 for tomorrow. Day Six: 8 Miles @ 8:00 Trying to conserve a little energy and take it easy on this run. Im feeling a little worn out which was to be expected upping the pace of all my easy runs. I have slight calf tightness in my right leg which is giving me a bit of a shin splint. I got tired at 5 miles, and realize that Im just not eating enough to compensate for the amount of calories I have been burning this week. Vitamins and rest are my best friends. I normally run 7 days and then take 2 days off, this is my 8th day of running without a break, and if I can figure out how to relax on these medium and longer runs I might not have to take rest days at all. As of right now all I want to do is not run. After next week we will see what sort of adaptation happens. I might have to include rest days. Day 7 12 miles 8:12 pace lots of traffic stops and a few stops to work out my calf tightness.. Shin splints went away after 3.5 miles. Tired as shit but tried to work hard on the hills and keep my form.. Glad to have made it to the second week.