Picking Up the Pace!

Tonight I ran almost 3.5 miles in 40 minutes. That's an 11:58 pace. Anything under 12 minutes is great for me.

But, the best part was my intervals. For 30 minutes, I ran 2 minutes and walked 1 minute...just like I did a week ago. Last week, I covered 1.85 miles in those 20 minutes of walking. This week, I covered 1.87 miles. Not a big difference, but almost every interval was FASTER! The 'worst' was my first interval... I should have warmed up longer! If I deleted this one, my speed would have been a lot better!

Here is last week (1st) versus this week (2nd) paces during the 2 minute runs. Seeing numbers in the low 11's and 10 minute paces feels FANTASTIC!!! In fact, running at this speed feels great!!!

1. 10:52.....12:44
2. 11:02.....11:08
3. 11:00.....10:56
4. 11:02.....10:41
5. 10:56.....10:45
6. 10:41.....10:36
7. 10:57.....10:20
8. 11:08.....10:17
9. 10:33.....10:01
10. 9:53.....10:20

After this, I ran .5 miles... in about 5:30! Then, I ran another .4 miles in 5:01! These are great times for me. I AM getting faster, and it feels great! I just love running! The weather was beautiful, and it just felt great to be outside RUNNING!

I am currently looking for a half marathon plan. When I've trained in the past, I just keep upping the long mileage and pretty much running 2 other times per week... usually about 3 miles each. Now, I'm wanting to run 4 times a week. I'd like to do something like quarter mile repeats one day, short sprints one day, tempo run one day, and long run one day. I don't want to go beyond 11 or so miles on my long run. Anyone following a plan something like that? THANKS!!