SMH Half Marathon training Week 4

Monday

Rest day

Tuesday
AM - Ride at SOP. I was slack and went with Group 5. The pace was not easy, but it was comfortable. Next week I will have to go with Group 4. 40k approx with a coffee break.

Lunch - PITD. I had promised myself I would go with Group 4, so I did. Unfortunately the pace felt too fast for me, I struggled to hang on and I couldn't put in a good effort on the intervals. I was vindicated at the end when we finished in 28:40, which was only 10 seconds slower than Group 3! Next week I will try and get a group 4 and 1/2 going and aim for about 30. 10k total.

Wednesday
AM - Medium long run around the Bay. I planned to do 5k in the middle at sub 5 min k pace - and I still felt okay at the end, so I did an extra 1k fast. 14k total.

Thursday
AM - Lilyfield Rd hill reps. A somewhat slack session and I only did 6 reps not 8. I missed having Tom there to motivate me. 11k total.

Friday
I had planned to swim in the morning but we had a late night at the theatre so I slept in instead.

Saturday

Striders and Athletics NSW 10k Champs at Homebush. My plan was to do the first 5k in 4.20s and the second 5k in 4.15, which would have me finish in 42.55 - a new PB and under 43 minutes. The first k was way too fast (3.55) but I settled down after that and did around 4.10s, then slowed down a bit to 4.20s. I was watching my Garmin closely and thought I was on track with my average pace under 4.15. The Garmin ticked off 10k in 42.15 (fabulous!) but sadly there was another 250 meters to go (bugger!), so I crossed the line in 43.08. It was a PB (compared to 43.21 at North Head 2 months ago) but, considering the kind of training I have been doing recently, I had been hoping for a more significant improvement. Tom was happy with his run on limited training - back under 45 mins, and heading in the right direction.

Sunday
I was down in Canberra and determined to do something resembling a long run. I headed off with a plan to do 2 laps of Mt Ainslie plus some extra hilly single track bits and that’s exactly what I did. The first 10k didn’t feel that great, but once I settled into it I felt much better. It was a beautiful gorgeous lovely Canberra day, perfect for running. I was stuffed at the end - 25k in 2.5 hours.

So, a decent week. 70k running is good. One ride is good. No swims is very bad. The 10k race was a bit disappointing but I still feel motivated to try to improve and be a runner. My thoughts are now turning to my goal for the half marathon in 2 weeks. Simply "better than last year" is not good enough, but 95 mins is too much of a stretch. Hmmmm.