Legs are feeling better, but training for a half marathon instead of a full one is looking like the smartest thing I can do for

I survived my first 30-mile week since mid October. Woot

Last week, I ran 35 miles – my first week over 30 miles since mid-October. People that come to this blog regularly know that I’ve been knocked out with wretched soleus/calf muscle pain that started affecting the nerves in my hamstring.

My legs were feeling pretty good following a nice rehab session last Friday, so on Saturday, I decided to end the week with my first run of more than 10 miles in more than six weeks. It was a very hilly course, much of which is used for the Run For The Water 10-miler every October.

I wound up running 11.53 miles in 1:29:19, a pace of 7:45.

This is from Saturday's 11.5 miler. Every mile but the first was under 8 minutes.

Now, I’ve run this far and this fast before, but am glad my legs (and lungs) held up on such a brutal course. And my mile paces were consistent enough: after a 8:34 warmup on the first mile, my splits for each of the last 10.5 miles ranged from 7:20 to 7:55. Smelling the hay in the barn (that’s runner speak for “knowing that the end was near”) – I ran mile 11 in 7:26 and finished the last half mile in 7:00 mile pace.

My heart race for the entire run averaged about 81 percent of max and soared to 88 percent at the end. That’s probably five ticks higher than I’d like, however I’m not too sour about that given the hills on the course and my limited running.

The real news here is that even though my legs are coming back, they are no where near the shape they need to be in to start training for the Austin Marathon in mid February. So, the better plan might be just to run the Austin Half (as well as the 3M Half in late January), try to qualify for the New York Marathon in November by running a 1:30 half marathon or better. Rest up. Then start the NYC buildup marathon buildup on fresh, rested legs.

Running the half is sound better and better every second.