Say what? Can this really be training cycle number thirty-nine for me? I suppose so, unofficially… I don’t really have an exact count, but since the fall of 1997 when I trained for my very first marathon, I’ve had at least one fall and one spring marathon, half marathon, or ten-mile race on my training schedule.  

Some training cycle plans were carefully laid out on paper and each run was checked off and documented, while others were simply in my head making sure my long runs were lined up so I’d peak at the right time for my focus race. 

Last year I purchased Run Less Run Faster (affiliate link) and used their plan as I trained for the Chicago Spring Half Marathon. I found it to be very good for an older runner who just might have put way too many miles on her body back in the day of routinely running 50-mile weeks.

These days, I’m careful not to overdo it and have found Run Less Run Faster’s approach to training perfect for me. With three quality runs per week (intervals, a tempo run, and a long run), I’m staying within what my body is comfortable running and rarely feel like I’m pounding the pavement too much. 

This past Tuesday was the first day of my OBX Half Marathon training cycle. For those of you who haven’t heard, I turn sixty in mid-November and my husband and I have invited a group of my running girlfriends to our family beach house on the Outer Banks to stay for a long weekend, run the OBX Half (or one of the other associated races), and have an all-around fun time (Bill doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into)!

I determined my goal time for the OBX Half, and I matched that to the half marathon times on the charts in the book to determine my track, tempo, and long run paces. My goal is to run a 1:54:20 which would be a 14 second PR for me. How cool would it be to set a PR two days before my 60th birthday? Back when I was faster, I ran mostly marathons (if I ran a half, I ran it as a training run) and that’s the only reason I have a breakable half marathon PR at my age.

Anyway, back to my training… Run Less Run Faster (RLRF) called for my track repeats to include a 1 to 2-mile warm-up and a 1-mile cool-down with 12 x 400’s in the middle. My goal pace was to hit each 400 at 1:49 (7:19 pace) and I was pretty much on the money. I walked around for about 90 seconds between each interval as I recovered. I plan to do track repeats on Tuesday since that’s the day my friends are meeting at the track and it works well with my work schedule.

 

Thursday called for a tempo run with a 2-mile warm-up, 3 miles at tempo at an 8:13 pace, and a 1-mile easy cool-down. I met my friends at the trail and we all warmed up together and then did our own thing for the rest of our runs. I struggled hitting my tempo paces and ended up finishing those at 8:45, 8:45, and 9:35. I haven’t been able to get my speed back since my injuries in February and April, but I know consistency with my training now that I’m including speed work will do wonders. 

 

Saturday’s schedule had me doing an 8-mile long run at an 11:18 average pace which I ended up running at a 10:40 average. I sneaked out between two huge rain storms when the temperature was in the mid-60’s, something I can’t complain about in mid-July!  

 

RLRF also recommends cross-training as part of the training plan. This week’s cycling workouts called for 2 approximately 30-minute rides with tempos or intervals. Instead, I rode 50 miles with Bill today – more on that next week!

 

Looking ahead to this coming week, tomorrow I’ll post my July Race Linkup. Please feel free to join me and let your friends know which races they can find you at this racing season. On Tuesday I’ll have a special tribute to celebrate Bill’s and my 36th wedding anniversary. And on Wednesday, please be sure to join me for my monthly Wednesday Word linkup where this month’s word is breakthrough. 

In case you missed it, this past week I posted the following articles:

 

In addition to the runs I mentioned above, here’s a run-down of other workouts I completed this past week…

 

Fitness tools beyond the equipment in my gym that I used during the week included: 

Cameras used for blog photography include:

 

  • Questions:
  • Have you run the OBX Marathon or Half? If so, what did you think?  
  • How’s the weather been were you live? ~ I lucked out all three mornings I ran this past week. For July, the morning temps were not too bad.
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

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I’m also linking up with Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC for her Training Recap linkup. Be sure to check out how Courtney the other great bloggers joining the linkup are doing on their fall marathon and half marathon training.