As you know if you read my blog regularly, the Raleigh half is THIS SUNDAY. I've been training relatively consistently, so I'm really hoping for a time I can be proud of... I've just had a hard time figuring out what that magic number is! I was going to include this in my Tuesday post, but it was getting too long, so I decided it warranted it's only post!
My official time for my first half was 2:13:16, which is a 10:11 pace. That's so fast! When I ran that race, I never believed I would be that fast... in fact, my "A" goal was 2:17:39, or a 10:30 pace. I feel like with the speed training and a year more of running under my belt, I should definitely be able to PR. But by how much?
My long term racing goal is to break 2 hours - which would be a 9:10 pace. I'm definitely not there yet, and I'm fine with that - I have plenty of fun race plans in 2013 to work towards that goal. So, some intermediate goal between 10:10 and 9:10 min/miles would be good. Susan taught me to set different 'tiered' goals, so your A goal is like "I probably can't do this but whoa that would be great" all the way down to an E goal of "finishing". So, after pondering for the last several weeks, I set the following goals:
A Goal: 2:03:16, or 9:25 pace - 10 minutes off my current PR would be so baller, and 9:25 sounds insanely fast to me. Uhh I don't think this is at all reasonable. But it's something to dream about for the rest of the week.
B Goal: 2:06:43, or a 9:40 pace - half way from my old PR prace to my longer-term pace goal, so that would feel pretty good I think! I also think this is within reach (although by no means easy)
C Goal: 2:09:59, or a 9:55 pace - If race conditions are good, I think I should be able to run on average under a 10 min/mile, so this seems quite reasonable. Plus, breaking 2:10 sounds cool, right?
D Goal: 2:13:00, or a 10:08 pace - If things aren't going all that well, but I could still PR, even if just barely, I would still call that a win.. wouldn't you? If Susan lived in Raleigh, I'd still qualify:
So, what's my plan for race day?
I think the plan is to try to stick to a 9:40 pace for the first 6-7 miles. I don't want to get caught up in excitement and burn out too early, plus I know the two worst hills are at miles 1.5 and 5.5, so I want to try to keep a nice even pace at the beginning. Hopefully, if conditions are right (I'm hydrated, fueled, and weather is good, etc.), then around mile 7 I can start picking up the pace juuuust a little bit (aiming for miles in the 9:00-9:30 range), and push myself from that "B" goal closer to that "A" gooal. Then, if I still feel like I have anything left in me, around 11.5 I'll probably start really racing and giving it 110%.
We'll see how this goals for race day - for now, I'm going to start carbo-loading by trying out a new Italian restaurant for dinner this evening! (Happy Birthday Allison!)
I'll kiss you even though you miss your PR by five seconds, I promise. I just need to get to NC first. Soon!
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