Last Sunday Run !

Well, this is it.  Our last 1/2 marathon training run; by 10:00 next Saturday morning, all of us will be finished with the Country Music 1/2 Marathon. What are we doing this week?  We are meeting back at Shelby Bottoms at 9 o'clock for a short race pace run.  We'll jog 1-2 miles, run 3-5 miles at goal pace, and then jog 1-2 miles.  While you are running at goal pace, pay close attention to how it feels.  Why?  Because the race is hilly, it always seems like we are going up or down, so during the race we need to run by feel and not by pace.

Your up hill miles will be slower than goal pace, and your down hill miles will be faster.  Working hard up the hills, and then using the down hills to recover, is not a good way to race.  You should run with a pretty steady  effort level nice the whole time.  (Well, until the last 2 miles when you start hammering!) 

If you know how fast you want to run the race, but you don't know what that pace would be, try the MacMillan Running Calculator.  This is a pretty handy site that will instantly calculate your pace - or you can type in a recent race performance and it will give projected times for other distances.  (Try to ignore the cheesy music...)

Finally, what should you run this week?  Not much.  Probably about 40% of what you normally do, and almost all of it should be SLOW.  Here is a sample schedule for next week:

Monday - off

Tuesday - 3 miles

Wednesday (East Nasty) - 4.5

Thursday - 2

Friday - 2

Saturday - 13.1

Block out your schedule for the Saturday night post-race East Nasty party!  Look for details coming soon!  You won't want to miss it!

See you Sunday!

Mark