I just finished Week 3 of my training plan for the Oakland Half Marathon.  The first two weeks were a little abbreviated because I strained something in my left foot.  Luckily, I seem to have put that to rest, and week 3 was terrific. 

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I’m loosely following this Cool Running intermediate half marathon training plan.  I used their beginner plan with great success for my first half marathon.  I’m running 5 days a week instead of 6, but doing slightly more mileage for my long run.

This week’s long run was meant to be 13 miles, but I can never resist adding the extra 0.1 to a 13 mile run.  My legs took a few miles to get warmed up, but then I hit a great stride (thanks in part to some new music on my iPod, I’m guessing).  I took a Roctane at mile 5.5 and then a Tri-berry Gu at mile 9.5.  At mile 9.5 I also realized that it was #TwitterRoadRace day.  I decided to make the last 5k of my 13.1 miles count towards the #TwitterRoadRace.  It gave me just the incentive I needed to pick up the pace, and I finished the last 5k in 27:44.

I had my Garmin set to the lap pace screen, so I was blown away to switch back over and see that I’d run the 13.1 miles in 2:06:29.  My PR (from 2010) is 2:04:17, and I ran Oakland last year in 2:19:50. 

I can usually get to this point in a training plan where everything seems to click and my long runs are going great, and my average pace is getting faster.  Unfortunately, historically, that’s right when I get injured.  So I’ve been using my foam roller and The Stick like it’s my job, and taking ice baths after long runs.  I’m also focusing on a 20 minute strength training routine and going to yoga regularly. 

Hopefully all of this will get me to the start line at Oakland in March injury-free and ready to run sub-2hours!