Melissa Runs

I spent July through October training my little heart out for the Marine Corps Marathon.

Now that the race has come and gone, it’s time to look into the future at upcoming goals.

I fell ridiculously short of my sub 2:20 half marathon goal for 2011. I can tell you exactly why: lack of training. The first three races in the beginning of the year should hardly be considered as legitimate attempts. I barely logged any training miles and ran the races solely to finish. I had a few killer speed workouts and tempo runs during marathon training, but for the most part I only trained for distance.

Once San Antonio rolled around, two weeks after Marine Corps, it was clear this wouldn’t be the time to PR. It didn’t keep me from setting a few lofty race goals though. I managed to eek out a PR by one minute – not what I had hoped for. A less than impressive showing on my behalf. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed.

Back to my original point – the sub 2:20 race didn’t happen. The only logical thing to do would be to slash some serious minutes off my current PR early next year.

Enter 3M Half Marathon on January 29, 2012.

This will be my PR race, kicking the year off in a big way. The goal is a 2:15-2:20 finish. Yes, I realize that’s a 20 minute difference from the half two weeks ago, but barring injury {knock on wood} it’s attainable with the correct training.

Therefore, I present to you … the Operation Run Fast training plan.
 

(click to view full training plan)

I’ve been tweaking it for over a month and aside from the long run paces, it’s finally done.

Three days of running (speed/tempo/long), two days of cross-training (elliptical/spin), and two rest days. While I always run three days a week, cross-training seems to fall by the wayside. It’s just as important as running, so I need to make sure I’m completing those workouts (not counting this past holiday week).

I jumped back onto the running scene this week:

Tuesday:   2 miles @ 9:55 pace (This run kicked my ass and reminded me what taking a few weeks off will do to you)

Thursday:  5 miles @ 11:25 pace (Turkey Trot)

Sunday:     6.5 miles @ 11:04 pace (Supposed to be 6-7 miles at 11:38 pace. I compromised with 6.5 and ran them a bit faster than what the training plan called for. Oops)

I’m ready to buckle down and train hard for the 3M Half. Operation Run Fast starts NOW.

Bring it on.