1/2 marathon in Maui in just over a week! The race was in the back of my mind the whole time I was doing my triathlon training. Knowing that I would have to start increasing my 6 mile runs every week weighed a little heavy on my mind. I really wasn't giving myself a lot of time to fully prepare for the race.
I did my first 1/2 last year and followed a much more structured training plan. I had more miles on my legs by this point in my training. My hope is that for this one, even though I haven't been running as many miles each week, with the cross training my legs are stronger. So far this theory is holding up.
The first jump in mileage went up to 8 miles. In the past 8 miles has been kind to me. I liked that distance and my body responded well to it. Not this 8 miles. This 8 miles was tough; shockingly tough. All I could think was "I'm in trouble". The next week I needed to do 10 miles. This time I got up extra early and was out the door by 6:00 am. What a world of difference. I ended up running almost 11 miles and could have kept going. Phew! Yesterday I did 12 miles and it was another tough one. However, I didn't get out and running until after 8:30. The late start and the heat really takes a toll on how effective a run you have. At least that's what I believe. I completed my run, but I had to dig down deep at mile 9 to keep running 3 more miles.
So, the rest of the time I get to scale back. Perhaps another 8 mile run and a couple 4 mile ones thrown in. Don't tell anyone that I've been bad and haven't done any hill work. I specifically picked the Maui race for its flat course and because it travels along the coast line. If you have to be running for at least 2 hours straight you might as well have something pretty to look at.
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