Time to step it up!

I ran hills on the treadmill for my EZ Run & Cross Training yesterday and I am sore in the front part of my ankle. Who would have thought that a slight incline could make such a big difference? I am afraid of running out of steam on that San Francisco hills at the Nike marathon. Of course, O's cousins who I talked to about the race said that it was perfectly fine to walk during the marathon if you need to. That's a relief. Even though I'm trying to working more hills in my training, there's nothing like the real thing to kill me. I am seriously worried about whether or not I can survive the half-marathon. I would hate to just peter out and come through the finish line on my last legs, walking.

Since my goal is to just finish the Nike half-marathon, I have been trying to figure out what it will take to achieve that. I was looking on the TNT Peninsula (the training team I'm part of) website yesterday and I realize that I need to work on my intervals into my training:

• 1 x 400m (5K pace)
• 1 x 800m (10K pace)
• 1 x 1200m (Half/Full marathon pace)
• 1 x 800m (10K pace)
• 1 x 400m (5K pace)

This is the rough guide for a Coach's workout if I can't make it, but it provides a good overview of what my pacing should be like. Interval training is going to be tough because up until this point, I've just been trying to run for time and distance. Just sustaining a pace for distance is difficult enough, but if I can running at a more efficient pace, I don't waste energy.

I went onto the Runner's World website and calculated my times based on my 5K timed trail last month:

1500m	9:45
the mile	10:31
3000m(3k)	20:21
3200m(about 2 miles)	21:47
5000m(5k)	34:58
8000m(8k)	57:33
5 miles	57:54
10,000m(10k)	1:12:54
ten miles	2:00:43
a half marathon	2:40:43
a marathon	5:35:04

The times are a sobering projections of how much time I need to run certain distances. Even though according to the website "These times are projected equivalents and are not a guarantee of performance or final race distance times," I still feel like they are goals I need to work towards. And all of these numbers are assuming I can sustain a certain pace or run with intervals efficiently to sustain a certain average pace per mile. So even though I ran an awesome 6 miles in 70 minutes on Sunday, according to the projections above, I should have actually run it in about 57 minutes. Wow- I suddenly feel like I have a lot of training to work on! Bring on the soreness- it's time to crank up the training!