I’ve never really referred to the Cleveland Half Marathon as an “A” race, but it is. My goal for this race is to go sub 1:40, knocking 49 seconds off my Shamrock time from March.
I’ve been so quiet about training specifics all year, but since March I’ve done some things that I think will get me to that new half marathon mark:
- This race week I am nearly 3 pounds lighter than Shamrock. Slightly better eating and continued “little bit” of core work has helped me hit that mark. I’m about 5 pounds from where I want to be, but that’s something I’ll focus on before Richmond Marathon training begins.
- Having a coach has pushed me to much faster training runs, and very specific runs that have pushed me to run below half marathon pace at times. I wrote about needing to do that shortly after Shamrock and I’m very happy about successfully doing that.
- I’ve run in a huge variety of weather with huge temperature swings. The weather forecast on Sunday is looking very warm with a high of 80 that day. The overnight low, though, is 60, so for the 7 a.m. start it shouldn’t be too bad. And if it is uncomfortable, I’ll adjust as the race goes along.
- My 10k PR was comfortably under my half marathon goal pace. I’m confident I can double that effort.
My brief illness seems to be completely gone, so all that’s left is a bit of driving to Ohio on Friday …
