My plan is to do my first half-marathon this year, and to do so in record time.
Of course, by definition, whatever time I achieve will be a PR. But that's not what I mean. I'm taking an actual record time. One that's in the books. Just for a different race.
The world record FULL-marathon time, that is. The American record, to be specific. For women, to be precise. A time of 2:19:36. Which I'll round up to 2:20. That's an average pace of 10:40 per mile, which is about the fastest I think I'll be able to sustain non-stop. It is entirely possible my first half will take an additional 20 minutes. But my target, at least for now, is 2:20.
My goal is simply to do this non-stop, without walking, as a step toward doing a full marathon using a run-walk technique. My ultimate goals are to become able to do 1-2 half IM races per year, and to do at least one full IM at some point in my life.
The thing is, I've never run for longer than about 80 minutes. Not once. My regular run training includes one 10K run every week, which takes about an hour, depending on what else I add into the run. Back in the '80's I briefly flirted with the idea of training for the half-marathon distance, and once ran 10 miles, after which my legs fell off.
So, the first step is to see if I can simply stay on my legs for 2:20, jogging, just to see if I can do a run-like gait for the required time. Three days ago, on last Monday, I jogged non-stop around Mission Bay for 2:10 (I mistimed timed my turnaround) and covered 10.5 miles, for an average pace of 12:23 per mile, a gentle jogging pace.
But now it's the following Thursday, and my legs are still stiff and weak. But no joint or foot pain whatsoever, which means it's mainly endurance conditioning I need. Which should not be a problem.
So, as the first real test on my half-marathon journey, I call this a great success!
But there's more to consider: I did this without nutrition or hydration. Which is a failure as a race technique, but OK as a training assessment.
After I stopped, I drank 24 oz of APX (3 scoops) and another 34 oz of water (for 58 oz total). Then I did an hour long strength training workout during which I drank another 34 ounces of water. When I got home I had another 24 oz of water.
That's 116 oz of fluids, nearly a gallon total. I didn't pee until another half hour after that, a bit over 2 hours after the run had ended.
My next run will include carrying fluids: I have a Fuel Belt that holds a total of 24 oz.
So my next training goal is to see if I can drink and run at the same time.
