Switching from a Full to Half Marathon – Newport

Today’s Run 7 miles @ Incline 3 – 61 minutes

I went from a failed progressive 7MPH to 7.2MPH to Farleks to 7.5MPH intervals with 30 second walks.  Overall I just wanted to keep my legs going for as fast as possible even if for shorter distance.

Yesterday – 5 Miles on the elliptical 2 miles on the treadmill in about 50 minutes.  Which although is not a great workout, I’m proud that I still got it done considering an hour before I fought my house and well my staircase won.

Yes it wasn’t pretty and all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed and cry but instead I went to the gym and continued with my day as I started.  I guess it was a sign that maybe I should have went running outside instead of trying to go to the gym on an icky rainy day.

Switching from Amica’s Marathon to United Health Half Marathon

I can list all the excuses I want but the truth is I switched from the Full to Half Marathon because of one crappy, 75 degree muggy run.  The 20 miler that turned into 8 broke me.  And while I go in and out of regrets from switching races, I am mostly content.

Part of me wishes I read Dorthy’s Post before I made up my mind but it came a day too late. However, it’s still a post worth reading (after reading mine haha).  It reminds us all that all training cycles have bad runs.  It’s possible to have a horrible training run and a few days later an amazing race.

I had a horrible horrible average pace of 10 MPH almost crawling run on Saturday just to PR less than 48 hours later at a 10K in sub 7 minute miles (Tufts 10K). Part of me should have realized that it didn’t mean I will have a horrible race a week later.

The negatives of switching
– I lost $30 or so since the full was more expensive
– I won’t be able join marathon maniacs by the end of 2012
– I’ll only be able to run 13 miles instead of 26

The Perks of running half the distance
– I can stop stressing out over the lack of distance training I had over the past 4 weeks
– I can go all out and not worry as much about my lack of pacing ability
– I can pretty much not worry what I’m eating or doing the day before
– I don’t have to worry about getting enough sleep to the same degree
– I will be racing and finishing around the same time as my friends who are all running the half instead of the full
– I’m only running 13 miles instead of 26

Now don’t get me wrong, I still respect the half marathon.  Running 13 miles at your hardest is no easy task and a lot can happen.  However, it’s still only half of what can happen in a marathon.  You can go out too fast and still finish in a half marathon relatively at your goal pace.  While at a marathon.. well a lot can happen at a marathon.  I’m also used to running for 2 hours.  I am not used to running for 4 hours.  It’s still new distance for me.  I haven’t given up on marathon but for now I want to keep PRing in smaller distance then gathering notches on my marathon belt.

I know sometimes I get carried away because some of my running blog idols are so much faster than me but I have to remember they have been running for many more years and races than me.  I’ve only be running for 2 years and only 1 year of marathon distance.  I’m only 25 and while I will never be an elite athlete, I still have years of improvement to look forward to.  I can pick distance and speed.  I can get faster and I can build up my base for marathon but it won’t happen overnight.