Week 13 tacoma vs eugene comparison

Comparing week 13 buildup for Eugene vs Tacoma.  First, HR histogram. This week was only 25 miles vs 35 for Eugene but the average pace was much faster and the efficiency was much better (because I've logged more miles this time than I had for Eugene).

Anyway, you can see that  the green (tacoma training now) has more out out at high bpms and almost none below 120 bpm. Pushed hard this week, even if the miles were low.

The paces show the speed...almost no running at slower than 10m/m. 9:45 is a slow base for me now.

Shy on miles but otherwise 13 a good week.

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Week 12 is going great so far. It should be a very solid week (knock wood). So far my body is holding up amazingly well: the Chi form is getting easier and easier to maintain without thinking and my lower legs have zero trigger points. No AT, no nothing. 

My efficiencies are at the level that took to week 8 to develop during Eugene so I'm hoping I'll be  benefiting from a longer buildup.

The only slight niggle is my glutes being sore after a hard run, but that goes way in a day and it has been getting less and less (for the same effort level) so I'm not worried about it.

Signed up!

Believe it or not, the last time I ran a good, peaked half marathon was at Santa Cruz in 2009. I really enjoyed this race, and not just because I got a PR but because of the beautiful views and the fact that the course is pretty flat.  

Since then, I have run only one half marathon (Pasadena), and that was impromptu (and with a mild head cold). Back in 2008, I ran the SF half marathon as my first  long race ever.

So if you just did the math, I have only run 3 half marathon races. Why so few!?

I think it is because my weekend time is so precious, I really have to plan ahead for my races...given that,  I'd rather do a marathon.

The marathon was also very alluring to me because its just so complex compared to shorter races. 

In both of my Jill-coached marathons she had me do a half marathon time trial about 4 weeks out from marathon day as a benchmark (to see how I was peaking). This is not ideal: a time trial on the roads is not the same as a race situation. You will tend to go more slowly.

This spring it so happens that Santa Cruz is *exactly* 4 weeks ahead of Tacoma. Therefore, I have signed up! 

I would like to take my 1:51:26 PR down to the 1:49:xx range. I think this is quite doable, even though I'm 4 years older (gulp!)