Second race of the year is scheduled for Saturday, May 21st. The Brooklyn Half Marathon, part of the NYRR Grand Pre. Recently I had an unexpected PR for the half at the 13.1 Half Marathon series in Flushing, Queens. Unexpected because I was hoping to not run slower than a 1:50 finish, I crossed the finish line at 1:41:29, about a minute faster than my last half in October of last year.
So, with a 1:41 on the board I want to shoot for a sub 1:40 finish in Crooklyn next month. No, no typo, I spelled it Crooklyn. That's stolen from an old Spike Lee joint, but is a good term for my current feelings toward the hipster playground south of my beloved Queens.
What was missing from my first leg of training was the same thing missing from most oft training, dedicated speed work. By that I mean track work outs. Intervals. It's a dirty, pain in the ass word. Even if you half ass speed work your lungs still burn some, but man does it help make for faster mile splits. I jumped bak into track work last week with 8 X 800's. This week it's 6 X 1200's. Ouch. I felt a cold burn at the bottom of my throat just typing that. It'll be worth it I'd can run sub 1:40. Goodness know the time would mean a lot to me. I just turned 40 and though I had a doable goal of racing a full 26.2 in 3:15 ( + 59 seconds grace period) to qualify for Boston. Bit the a-holes at the Boston Athletic Commission decided to add FIVE minutes to each age group, meaning I would now need to run 26.2 in 3:10!! With no grace period. Anyway. That topic is for another more angry blog to be posted on the future.
Right now I have to focus on shaving at least one minute and thirty seconds off my current PR. Coney Island, be good to me.
