My 2 runs at the weekend left me a little worried about my pace.
In the week leading up to my shin splints, I had been making great progress with both my speed and distance and when injury struck I was forced into resting for 5 days it all seemed to fall apart.
Fortunately I proved that my training sub 2-hour half marathon wasn’t a one-off,
Positive thinking on the run.
I didn’t go out with speed work in mind. If I told myself from the start that I had to sustain a 9 minute mile pace for an entire run, I’d cave under the pressure.
I kept all inner chat positive by striving to be well under a 10 minute mile average. This might seem totally unambitious, but it’s merely a ploy to con my mind into a positive state.
What I’ve noticed is that I am more likely to do speed bursts when I’m happy and confident on the run. If my body is sluggish to start, then my mind will react with negative thoughts and I’ll react by tensing up.
Under promise, over deliver.
So by keeping my target pace low, I exceed my expectations and believe that I’m succeeding.
My mind and body react to the positivity and I begin to run much better than normal.
This feeds back into my mind and I then throw even more speed bursts into the mix and it feels amazing.
My new target – run 10 miles as close to 90 minutes as often as possible.
My next half marathon in Dublin in August will be a sub 2 hour run for me. To train for it I’m gonna keep running 10 miles but come as close to 90 minutes as I can on each workout.
If I can run the first 10 miles in 90 minutes, that leaves me with a 30 minute 5k for a sub 2 hour half marathon.
Even if I manage the distance in 92 or 93 minutes, I will still have the opportunity to hit my target. A sub 28 minute 5k isn’t out of my reach at all.
My plan is to not only run a sub 2 hour half marathon, but to smash it so that I never have to worry about this goal ever again.
Onwards and upwards.
It will be 15th time lucky In August for me.
I have the sub 2 within my grasp, I just need to keep moving forward and sprinting whilst I’m positive!
This time I won’t be silly enough to create a crazy forfeit for myself if I don’t achieve my goal.
Either way no one would have gained anything from this threat.