Smashing the Goal with Some Good Weather

Sometimes you have to brush off a bad run, learn from it and come back stronger.  That is exactly what I've done with my mile repeat sessions the last two weeks.  Three weeks ago, I went out in the humidity and tried to bust out my 4 X 1 mile repeats and failed miserably.  The biggest thing I learned was to run when it is cooler out.

For the most part, my speedwork Wednesdays have been a success.  Unfortunately, where I have failed was when I ran on the D&L Trail at Cementon.  That is a key problem because the half marathon that I am training for is run there.

I have to keep giving the D&L a try, so I headed there today.  The plan was for 5 X 1 mile repeats with a quarter mile of active recovery in between.  Originally, I was hoping that I could get my mom to drive me 8 miles up the trail, park my car there and drop me off back in Cementon.  That would've allowed me to run a point to point workout up the river.  I haven't run this entire trail yet and I want to explore more of it.  I elected just to do an out and back instead.  I'll save the point to point running for later on.

When I got out there to run at 10 AM, I couldn't decide on which clothes to wear.  Originally, it was warm in the sun and I put on my BCR singlet.  As I was walking, it seemed windy and cool, so I went back to the car and put on a regular short sleeve shirt.  This turned out to be a good choice.

My first few steps were awful and awkward.  It didn't take long to feel good though.  Usually, I can just tell by the warmup how I'll do that day.  Before I was even a quarter of a mile into the run, I felt great.  My legs were strong and sharp.

The first fast mile went good.  I cruised along at a comfortably hard effort.  I stayed under my goal pace of 7 minutes for the duration of the repeat.  It rained last night and the stone trail was a little more solid.  I think that was a big help.  As I finished the first repeat, I came to a truck on the trail that was cutting some trees.  I guess the storm did some damage.  It didn't slow me much and I was able to get around it and finish up with a solid 6:50 opening mile.

I started off well in the second fast mile.  The recovery segments seem short, but it really isn't that big of a deal.  Without going too hard, my pace was well under my goal pace.  Then as I approached the two thirds of a mile point, my GPS got all out of whack.  Suddenly, my pace was climbing and climbing and at one point it read a 7 minute pace.  For the final quarter mile or so, I pushed hard and it went way back down.  I was a little worried that I did too much too soon.

I recovered well and felt good at the start of the third fast mile.  It wasn't long into this repeat that I came to the bridge of Route 145 that goes over the trail and then over the river.  This is the farthest I have run on this path from the south.  I kept going this time though.  It was tough for sure.  This section goes uphill.  It isn't a hill, but it is a gradual climb.  I worked hard because I knew that I'd be turning around soon and would be able to fly downhill coming back.  The other thing that made some of this first half of the run difficult was the wind.  It wasn't bad, but I was certainly running into some head winds.  As I pushed and pushed, I ran a great time and was again well under pace.  This was my fastest mile of the run at a 6:38.  I knew now that I would hit my goal for this workout.

I turned around right after the third hard mile.  I knew most of the next mile would be downhill.  I went at a comfortable pace, but that wasn't quite enough.  I had to push a little to make this fourth hard mile work.  It still was fairly easy compared to the first three fast miles.  I was relieved to be done with this mile after 6:41.

My legs were starting to feel it as I recovered before my final fast mile.  I was behind another runner during this recovery period.  I was worried that he might pull me along too fast, but his pace was actually perfect.  I did pass him just before my final hard mile.

The final hard mile went well too.  It wasn't as much downhill as the previous mile, but it still seemed like I was descending.  I hovered around a 6:40 pace for most of the mile.  I was tiring toward the end.  I had a slight uphill that slowed me down.  I also passed the truck on the trail again, just as I was finishing.  Even though I slipped some, I still completed that final fast mile in 6:44.

I ran a mile cooldown.  I followed that up with close to a mile of walking.  I felt good and was barely sweating.  That was so nice.  I stretched at my car for a bit, but then a car alarm went off in the parking lot.  It was annoying, so I headed home.

It is quite amazing what a difference the weather makes.  Hitting a 7 minute pace during the summer has been hard.  Today, it was no problem.  Every one of my fast miles was between 6:38 and 6:50.  I didn't even have to push too hard either.  I probably could've run another mile under 7 minutes.  I was fading some toward the end, but not too bad.

My total time for the fast 5 miles was 33:37.  That is a 6:43 pace!  If you even include my quarter mile recovery segments, my time was 42:04.  That is just at a 7:00 pace for 6 miles.  That is almost have of the distance of my race and not even close to full effort.  I'm still a month and a half from the race too.  Plenty of time to improve.  I just hope the weather is this cool on raceday.  This was almost like early November weather.  The wind could be a key factor.

My goal for the half marathon is to set a PR.  To do that, I need something under 1:33.  If I hit a 7 minute pace that would a 1:31:45.  I would be thrilled with that.  The way I'm going now, I might even be able to break 1:30 for the half marathon.  A big roadblock to that could be the competition.  Last year was the inaugural event, but only 6 people actually broken 1:30.  I doubt I'll have much competition to pull me along.  Maybe the competition will be a little better.  With the more popular inaugural Runner's World Half Marathon taking place a few weeks earlier, I expect the field to be even weaker though.

The other interesting component is that I've never focused on a half marathon before.  Usually when I'm doing them, I am in the middle of marathon training.  I think that is a big reason why I might actually hit my goal for this race.  I did do my first half marathon on its own, but that was with terrible training.  I only ran once a week back in 2000.  I did a 10 mile long run each week and that was about it.  Enough to complete the race, but not enough to do well.

I am heading to the Nazareth Cross Country Meet this afternoon.  I'm not sore, but that should still be a good way to recover.  It is at Parkland I don't know the course at all.  We'll see how it goes.

Tomorrow will be my regular evening LVRR Group Run.  On Friday and Saturday, I might go camping at Hickory Run State Park.  If I do that, I'll run the trails at the park on Friday.  It is about a half an hour from Berwick, so I might run the Run for the Diamonds course on Saturday morning.  That is a tough course and my favorite race.  I haven't committed to it yet this year, but I'm sure I will in the future.

8 miles - 59:10 (7:24 pace)