Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Allure of 13.1

Half marathons are the new black. They are super popular. And I know why, they are fun. It's challenging enough for one to feel proud of oneself, BUT, it's not a marathon which takes a lot of time to train.




I've run 5 half marathons, 1 trail half marathon and 4 Rock'n'Rolls - 








My running story is this - 

In 2007, I had reached a point where I was completely unhappy with my body/myself. I had been trying to work out for several years but never really knew what to do or how to do it. I started doing Crossfit in late 2007 and did that for a couple of years. Then I met a runner. 

I officially started running in November of 2009. I ran my first half marathon in February of 2010. I ran my second half marathon in April of 2010. Then I ran 3 half marathons in 2011. I fell in love with the distance, but  

1) got burnt out on training and 
2) improved my times a little bit but never really got very fast

I was running in this group with people that had run multiple half and full marathons, so naturally, that's what I wanted to do as well. But I never really built a strong foundation of running 5ks and 10ks. So now that I've decided I'm not running a half marathon this year, I want to use this time to build a very strong base/foundation and build up some speed. I'm not a natural runner. I'm slow and I have to work hard to get to a speed that most people started out with. 

So my goal for 2011 is to speed up. I'd like to get a solid 5k time of under 28 minutes and be able to keep it there. I'd like my 10k time to be in the 50 minute time frame. Once I can do that consistently, then I will look at longer distances again. Those times aren't super amazing or anything, but I think if I can be fairly solid in those times, THEN, my half marathons will be more enjoyable. 


Since I ran a 5k in 33 minutes on saturday - yes I know, not my best, I have a long way to go :)

6 comments:

  1. I hope you can make it out to the track workout on monday nights. It will help you work on speed, running efficiency and raising your lactate thresholds.

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    1. I can't because I have a commitment on Monday nights from 6:30-7:30

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  2. I love 13.1. I have no desire to ever run more than that :-) In fact, when I run a half and there's a full going on, I always feel sorry for the folks that make the turn to keep going when I'm almost done (they are stronger than me, that's for sure!)

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  3. I'm training for my first Full right now. I haven't ever run a Half. I figure.....what the heck, train for a Full and that way I can say I've done a full and then enjoy doing halfs and feel good about them. So we will see. I like you am not Built to be a runner.....I played many other sports back in the day.....but running is one you can continue to do solo. I'm not fast......but I'm addicted. Good luck on speed. I haven't hit the desire to even try for speed yet. Maybe after my Marathon. We will see. LOVE YOUR BLOG!!
    -Leslee-

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    1. Good luck! I can't wait to hear how it goes! Thank you for reading!

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