Half Marathon Today!

• My "winter" half marathon PR (1:25:22) was 6:30.7 / mile pace.

• My 2010 half marathon PR (1:22:51) was 6:19.2 / mile pace.

• My recent PR at the New Prague Half Marathon (1:20:54) was 6:10.3 / mile pace.

That PR took my by surprise 3 months ago. (Read about the "surprise" in my race report, and then read a later post when I attributed it mostly to running longer runs with Henry.) I JUST looked back at my workouts leading up that that race 3 months ago, and here's what lead up to the race:

I did a short, fast duathlon the week before the race.

I did a 10K 2 weeks before the race.

And Henry and I did a 13+ mile long run 3 weeks before the race. Here's what I said in my training log about the middle 6 "race pace" miles during my long run:

Didn't try to descend like last week, but just tried to stay fast/hard. 6:32, 6:33, 6:34 (turn-around), 6:09, 6:18, 6:01.

38:09 for those 6 fast mile (6:21 / mile).

Let's compare that to workouts leading up to this race today:

A week ago, I ran the USC Alumni Run which was a short, hard race.

Two weeks ago, I ran a hard, longer 9-mile tempo run (with Henry) early in the week with the middle 5 miles at 6:03 pace (30:15).

Later that week, I did a 13+ mile run (with Henry) with the middle 6 miles at "race pace" like my last long run before New Prague. Here's what I said about those 6 harder miles:

Race pace 6 miles: 38:31 (6:25 pace).

So I was 22 seconds slower now than compared to the 6 miles 3 months ago.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN FOR TODAY'S RACE??

Nothing.

If we guesstimate my current fitness level ONLY on those 2 long runs (which is not totally fair), then we could assume that I'm in decent shape, but not as fast as 3 months ago. And actually, that's about how I've been feeling lately.

Not knowing anything about the course and knowing that it COULD be a bit warm out there, I'm hoping to finish around 1:21 - 1:23. Who knows. I was SUPER surprised with my half-marathon PR 3 months ago, but that won't happen again. I will crap my pants if I PR today. I will literally finish the race, look at my time, and crap directly on the finish line if I PR. The main goal for today's race is to finish the race without getting injured so I can earn more "Grand Prix" points.

(The weather was just perfect for the New Prague Half 3 months ago as it was nice and cool where my penis just went a little numb when we turned into the wind, but it wasn't freezing. And I was able to wear my calf sleeves and not overheat. I don't know if I'll be able to wear my calf sleeves today without getting too hot - that'll be a "game day" decision.)

Watch my tweets for up-to-date race info!! Happy weekend!