I had a fairly epic run today!  I was less than impressed with the weather when I woke up so I headed to the gym.  What can I say? I hate being even remotely cold on a run unless someone is putting a medal around my sweaty neck at the end of it.

My goal for this run was two fold. Run a sub 2-hour half marathon and go 15 miles.  I accomplished BOTH!

I started out with an easy warm-up at a 9:40 pace then moved it into a little faster than my half marathon pace at 8:57. The first 65 minutes of the run I kept it flat, but upped the speed to an 8:34 pace by the end of it. Then I reset quickly and went again. My overall pace for the first half was a 9:05 and I covered 7.16 miles.

I’m sure the other gym rats were wondering why I had three water bottles lined up next to the treadmill, but I didn’t want to stop for down time between 65 minute sessions on the treadmill.  On the second half I put it straight to 8:57 and added a 0.5% incline to make it more challenging. At the 10 mile marker I upped the incline to 1% and kept it there. I wanted to make sure I simulate a little incline so it makes the TM run more realistic to the outdoors so I add incline regularly on indoor runs.

As I approached the half marathon distance I kept increasing my pace. In the last 1.1 miles I was at a 8:00 minute mile pace and feeling good. Still realizing that this is not official I covered the 13.1 mile distance in 01:57:48 then finished out the rest of my 15 mile run between an 8:57 – 9:05 pace.  My overall time for 15 miles was 02:15:09 (9:00 pace).

I also had on my new calf compression sleeves by Yorkberg! I’ve ran three times with them and I like them! Comfortable, easy on/off, good amount of compression and they stay in place across long distances.

This is great motivation as my previous best time for that distance is 02:05:49. I can’t wait to do it for real on a race course! I’m hoping that my Purdue University half marathon goes well on the 18th, but I also realize that course is very hilly so we shall see!

Happy Training!

Brian