Decisions decisions...

It has taken some time, but I have finally come up with a plan for the Frozen Half this weekend that I can live with.  Now I need to decide about what to do about my aching right leg besides "stop running."  If it comes to that I will.

Well the good news is I hit my mileage goal and my frequency goals.  It took awhile, but I finally finished off a streak of ten straight days of at least an hour a day of running.  In fact, I am now up to day 11 because I am finally in good enough shape where I can do back-to-back long runs on the weekend.  I just wrapped a second 70 mile week for January and over the last 11 days averaged 10.5 miles.  Arthur Lydiard's principles are just as valid today as they were 30 years ago, so this low-intensity, consistent running should hopefully pay off in a few months.

The key now is to stay healthy.  Like I said, my right leg is bothering me a little.  Nothing big, but I do need to cut back my mileage this week anyway.  It's needed because of the steady diet of miles my legs have absorbed over the past three weeks and also because the Frozen Half Marathon is this Saturday.  Hopefully cutting back on the mileage will keep this under control.  We'll see.

And of course the other issue is I have no idea what I can run this Saturday.  My low goal remains to get under 1:30 and  erase the summer half marathon times from my recent running resume.  My hunch is I am in sub 1:25 shape, but really I won't know until I try.  The problem is two of my last last three half marathons have been ruined by too aggressive of a start.  So I will be bringing those bad memories with me to the race and really want to finish strong and confident, even if it means having to sacrifice a minute of time because of a slow start.  Yes, my running ego is presently that fragile.

My plan for Saturday is to open with a 7:00 minute mile and then see how I feel.  If it feels like I'm crawling, I'll bump it to 6:45 for mile two and run on feel from there.  I will be relying on a HUGE negative split to get under 1:25 but I have been able to so that in the past.  And like I said, more than anything I want a strong finish.  And then these would be my goals:

Low goal: sub 1:30
Medium goal: Sub 1:28
High goal: Sub 1:25

The weather shouldn't be a huge factor Saturday so that is good.  Hopefully I will be able to take advantage of the all the great running this winter has given us.

Goals for the End of January
1. Ten days of 45+ minutes of running.
2. Ten days of 60+ minutes of running.
3. 70 mpw by mid January
4. Sub 5:30 at Meet of Miles
5. Sub 1:30 at the Frozen Half