I am sick and have been since Sunday. So I haven't run since my crazy Saturday. Yesterday, I thought I was getting better and I planned to finally run this evening. But as today progressed, I started to feel more of a headache, swollen glands, and hot flashes. So I've been sitting on the couch and consuming loads of fluids. Last night, Ingrid had me eat an entire garlic clove. Tonight, I'm opting for my magical honey ginger tea.
I might take the whole week off, which will be a huge bummer because I have plans to run with Hadley after work tomorrow. I am freaking out a little because I feel like I'm running out of time and want to TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN, but I am still mildly sane. If it gets to be Saturday and I'm still out of commission, I may resort to super freak-out mode.
Speaking of training, onto the good news... I am on a new kick to try for my original goal of a sub-two hour half marathon on October 15th. Given that I don't really keep much track of my pace or set goals for my pace or splits on long runs, I kind of gave up the idea of running 13.1 in under 120 minutes because I knew it would be more fun to just go out there and run it (which is pretty much how I've been training). But earlier this week, I was reading one of my favorite running bloggers, Christine at These Happy Miles, as she wrote a little re-cap of her 20 mile training run (she is training for the Chicago marathon) last weekend. She explained that her split at 13.1 was 2:03:08 and pondered whether she may have a sub 2-hour half in her near future. This doesn't change the fact that I haven't taken pace or "splits" into account during any of my training. But the fact that 2 hours and 3 minutes inspired her to push for sub-two really struck a chord with me. Because 2 hours and 3 minutes is how long it took me to run my first half marathon in March. So I was newly inspired. I calculated it and determined I'd need to run an average pace of 9:07 minute miles for 13.1 miles in order to finish in 1:59:30. That is twenty seconds faster a mile than I ran the last half marathon. And I'm three and a half weeks out from my race. So it's a little late to be formulating a new plan. Especially when I've taken four (or more) days off due to a cold.
But what the hell, it never hurts to try! So my plan is to run 8-10 miles this weekend and maintain an average pace of 9:07. I will do this for the next three Saturdays (maybe throw an 11 mile run in there) and if I feel pretty good running at this pace, then I'll try for it in the half. At this point, I'm not going to beat myself up about making any certain time but I'm going to do my best to achieve my original goal. That's why I'll be buying one of these before I get off the couch tonight.
No, I still haven't decided on one. I'll probably go with the cheaper one that doesn't monitor heart rate. I'm going to read a few more reviews, ask Josh his opinion a hundred times, and then take the plunge.
I hope you're all happy and healthy and that you'll think healthy thoughts for me this week! What are your tricks for getting over a cold ASAP? Have you ever changed your game plan a few weeks out from a race?
Awe, sorry you aren't feeling well Carrie. Definitely try Zycam if you have anything in your sinuses. Let me know when you are feeling better and we can plan camping!
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