Each year in May, Ottawa has a yearly half-marathon event. If I can get up to running 22k regularly, I'm gonna give it a whirl. I've come close before, but my knee started giving me trouble---mainly because I tried to do too much at once. Typically I run 10-11km in one hour. Today I ran more than that, managing 13km at that pace. I plan on extending my run by a few kilometres or so each time until I make it to 25km. That would be more than a half-marathon, but it's better to do a little more rather than a little less. Heck, if I get good enough, I might run a marathon, but for now I'm shooting for a half-marathon in the spring.
That's a great pace to keep until you get used to the distance. From there, you can work on decreasing your time. I made that mistake my first year of training. I spaced out my training so that I was adding one mile whenever I shaved one min per mile off of my time. For example, my first run was 5 miles, which I did in roughly 42:30 (8:30 per mile). I ran until I averaged 7:30 per mile (which was my goal for the 1/2 marathon) before adding one mile to my run. Only, by the time I got to ten miles, I struggled to improve my time. I wound up staying at ten for longer than I wanted, at which point I went straight to 13. I never truly found my pace, and while I had a decent overall time (1h 41 minutes), my run wound up being extremely top-heavy. The second half of my run was more than 15 minutes longer than the 1st half. Each race since then, I learned to start slower and allow for a bigger finish. What I haven't been able to do is improve on my overall time any, but the after effect is what's improved dramatically. The first year, I could barely walk for the next five days. This year, I was able to actively coach a softball practice hours after the race.
I took a break before Christmas, but I have restarted and will likely be doing one in the spring. I run 2-3 times a week, and I'm likely going to do 15-16 km this weekend.
Wow, good for you Buddy. I'm training for time rather than distance at the moment, and am stuck at 7.5 miles. I'm trying to increase my pace for one hour run for now, and am presently 1/2 mile off pace, but gaining steam (A week ago I was almost a full mile off pace).
Well, I kept a good pace for about an hour and fifteen minutes today. Of course, by good pace, I mean I did about 7.5 miles in 70-75 minutes. For me, that's good because I'm short and stocky (5ft7 and 195lbs). I'm getting closer to 190 though, which means in a few months I will be well below it. And by summer, I should be 175 or a bit less. That's an ideal weight for me.
I know I could do 22km right now, but I want to get my time up and my weight down, so little incremental increases in distance are going to be my friends in the coming months.
I ran my longest distance this morning, and oddly enough also my best pace. 9 miles (approx. 14.5 km) in just under 69 minutes.
