Desperate in December

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Good man. You're doing better than me at the moment. Keep that up, and your sub-2 half will be very achievable.

Yes I believe it is achievable, EG. I've gone close with a couple of half marathon training runs around 2:05 - I just have to put in the training.

Speaking of which, I put in my third run in three days this morning, with a brisk 5km. This nearly didn't happen as I woke feeling really, really exhausted, but as I'm making such good progress I didn't want to miss this one, so I faffed around for a while until I felt awake enough to don the running gear.

I'd set myself a target of sub-30 minutes for this run, as that's sort of my benchmark - when I'm running 5km training runs under 30 minutes it's generally an indication that I'm hitting some reasonable base form. Today's came in at 29:00 so I was very pleased given how I tired I was. It was probably more mentally tough than physically so, but then training is half about mental toughness anyhow, don't you think..?

To put it into perspective though, that's the kind of speed I need to maintain for the full 21.1km if I'm to go under 2 hours for the half. Still, as a launching pad it's quite an acceptable one.

I now have a month off work, so am hoping to get some even more regular running under my belt. I'm off to Adelaide shortly to finish the renovation saga that is the old family home over there. Hard work, which I'll consider cross-training, but I'm hoping to run a few of my old favourite running trails as well, including some hills work.

This morning's run will be my last until Sunday's race - two rest days seem appropriate. I'm keen to see how I go - will report back then.

Meantime, Happy New Year everyone!

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