moving on. going for the half.

Now that I've finally had what I consider a very successful marathon (considering my history) it's time to re-focus. I gave myself a week post-Chicago to eat, be lazy, and generally not care about being healthy, or care about life whatsoever. Well. I lie. I gave myself until Monday of this week to do that. But now I'm back in training mode and looking forward to finally having the chance to work on speed. I have my eye on the Overland Park Gobbler Grind Half Marathon, November 21.

I've decided on a time goal, taking the massive hills (that don't exist in wichita to use for training) into consideration I'm going to shoot for a time of 1:57, which would still be a five minute PR). Hold up, can I just get a little shout out for admitting my goals here, because I'm totally that girl who is terrified to put stuff like that out there. Time goals? I don't post those! Because I might fail! But look at me, posting goal times all nimbly bimbly. Go ahead, roll your eyes, then tell me good luck. Thanks. Moving on.

If it weren't hilly I'd shoot for 1:54, but since Wichita has limited half marathons I have to work with what's in my budget. Which means a lot of Kansas City area races, seeing how I have free lodging and it's close to home (and i get to see some killah friends natch). This leaves me little option other than doing a hilly half marathon this fall, but I think it will be fine, just not as speedy as if I were doing it in the flatland.

Like I said, now that I'm finished with the marathon I'm ready to focus on speed and will just hope to sweet baby Jesus I don't get injured training at the paces that I have in mind. Speedwork, mile repeats and tempo runs are going to be my besties the next five weeks. I'm not sure why, but I have a huge bone to pick with both the half marathon distance and the Gobbler Grind (even though i've never run it before, which was due of course to injury). So brace yourselves, I'll be back to posting random blather and whining about how much my scrawny little leggies hurt over the next five weeks! Because not only do I have my eye on the half marathon prize but I also have another lofty goal to achieve before the end of the year. I'm not ready to divulge that yet. Maybe I will after Saturday.

Training Week 1 - Gobbler Grind 1/2:
Monday = LAZ.E., eat a lot of fatty deliciousness and sleep all day - done
Tuesday = 5 miles and yoga - done
Wednesday = 6 easy miles with the running group and yoga - done
Thursday = 7 miles with 3 x 1600s at 7:49 pace (i'm expecting tears and the inability to breathe, but that pace is conservative according to mcmillian's pace suggestions based on my last 10k race time) and yoga
Friday = Easy 6 miles
Saturday = WSU Pumpkin Run 5K (hoping for a PR, even if only by a few seconds, gotta beat 24:36), please note I'm apparently running this race with Bat-Girl... uh huh. Yeoop.
Sunday = 10 miles with the girls

Let's hope I don't injure myself. But seeing how I went through the whole marathon training process injury free, and am feeling really strong, I'm ready to give training at a shorter distance a good hard solid shot in the ass. I'm a girl on a mission. I'll keep you posted. Wish me luck!