Had another great training run on Saturday. 13 miles, my last long run before the Aramco half marathon. My time for this run was 20 minutes faster than the San Antonio R&R half marathon, and that was with 3 rest stops. Without the rest stops, I would have probably been 26-30 minutes faster. That would bring me to my goal time for my half marathon.
So I seem to have the long run down pat - My 12 miler a couple of weeks ago went great as well.
So how can I take this to my half marathon in less than 4 weeks? My long runs before San Antonio seemed to go great as well and San Antonio was a disaster!
I still haven't quite figured out a few things, one being my pre-run diet. I haven't found that one food works better than another. In fact, for the 13 miler, I didn't eat my normal pre-long run breakfast due to waking up at 5:20 - the time I normally leave the house. My alarm clock - i.e. my cell phone - seems to have a mind of it's own on Saturday mornings and freezes up.
Anyway, I had about 5-10 minutes to get dressed, get my stuff together, and get out of the house so instead of my normal 2 packets of instant grits, I ate 1/4 of a PB/Jelly sandwich in the car on the way to the park and still had a great run.
The night before I had pizza (maybe that helped), but the night before my 12 miler a couple of weeks ago I only had protein - a chili cheese burger with no bread, and still had a great run. The night before the San Antonio half I had pasta and we all know how that race went! So does the diet even come into play with my running?
I do know the one thing out of my control, which seems to make the most difference, is the weather. And all I can do is pray for low to mid 40's on January 17, 2010!
