Cowtown is Coming...

…and I am not ready. I skipped my 11-miler this past Sunday. I had ample time to run on Sunday, but I used my trip to Oklahoma City to visit my parents and sister as an excuse not to run. Thus, I have only run a 9-miler in preparation for this half marathon. This, plus the fact that my foot is still hurting, means that my goal to break 2 hours in the half is probably not going to happen at Cowtown. I have been told that the course is rather hilly, so that probably won’t help matters much, either. However, it looks like we will have perfect running weather: partly cloudy skies, high 55F and low 33F, with winds NE at 10 to 15 mph. The chance of rain is only 4 percent.

I am over the fact that I probably will not break 2 hours. Instead, I plan on using this half as a training run. I got this idea from this month’s issue of Runner’s World Magazine. John Hanc wrote about the following tune-up race workouts:

• Tempo Tune-Up: One mile warmup, followed by 10 minutes at goal race pace, alternating with three minutes of jogging recovery in between. The number of sets depends on your speed and the length of your tune-up race.

Mile On, Mile Off: Alternate harder with easier miles throughout the race. "On" intervals should be at 5-K race pace, while "off" intervals should be 30 seconds slower. This teaches you to build consistent speed, even late in the race.

Step-Down Tune-Up: Use the first mile as a warmup, then run five minutes at half-marathon pace, followed by a one-minute jog. Then run four minutes slightly faster, followed by a one-minute jog. Continue picking up the pace by one minute on the hard intervals, and keeping the one-minute recovery jog between each. Your last interval should be at all-out pace.

I think I am going with the “Tempo Tune-Up.” This makes a lot of sense for me because I am training for the San Diego Rock ‘n Roll marathon, and I would like to run it in 4:30:00. To run this time in San Diego, I need to maintain a 10:18 per mile pace. I am going to use this half marathon to teach my body what 10:18 pace feels like. My PR in the half marathon is 2:01:54. This required me, when I was in much better shape than I am now, to run 9:19 pace. A 10:18 pace should net me around a 2:15:00 finishing time, which isn’t too shabby (click here for the course map).

I am happy to focus on using the half marathon as a productive long run, especially since I will get the first in a series of five Cowtown medals. Mindi and Jonathan are coming in this weekend to run the 5K at Cowtown, so I don’t want to crash after the race, anyway. David is going to be running the 5K, too, so the party should be well under way by the time I am finishing!

W

ish me luck – 10:18 might be more difficult than I think!