Hey all, apologies in advance for a long post:
I am 24 (almost 25) and ran my first half marathon today in 1:27:41 (6:42 pace), at over 5000 ft altitude. I ran track and xc in middle school (was just ok, about 5:30 for the mile), but not seriously, and played soccer in high school and college. This was my first "race" since I was 13, and until I signed up for the half and started running more (July 14th), I'd never run more than 20 or 25 miles in a week in my life.
I started grad school in the fall (at altitude, so I was used to it already) -- before signing up for the race I'd been running 12-15 miles per week as part of an overall fitness routine with more emphasis on weightlifting. I probably ran 8:30-9:00 pace for these runs.
A friend of mine who ran in hs/college designed a simple training program for me, with the emphasis being on 3 things: 1) not getting hurt; 2) fitting around my schedule; and 3) finishing the distance without trouble.
I ran 5x per week every single week except one when I was sick, when I ran 4x. My first week of real training was 28 miles, my highest volume week was 41 miles. My longest long run was 13 miles, which I did twice. I did two workouts per week plus a long run, but they were all very simple, conservative workouts, since I had no PRs to base paces off, and no real running experience or specific fitness at all.
My goal when signing up, which was completely arbitrary, was to break 1:30:00 -- which I did, and by more than I expected. (I kind of thought that goal was fairly ambitious, considering my 9:00 pace running normally and the altitude.) En route to the 1:27, I started at 6:57 for the first 5k and closed the last 5k at 6:31. I felt good after 7 miles and ran a 2 and a half miles at right around 6:00 pace before starting to tire at the end.
I know good runners run more than 5x per week, and I know that 41 miles isn't much training for a half marathon. If I decided to keep training, I'm sure my friend/coach would bump up the mileage, seeing that I responded all right this first time. I just wonder what some good goals might be -- I'm never going prioritize running, which I do just to stay in shape and for fun, over school, work, or a decent social life, but I could definitely run more than I did to train for the half.
My friend said my time would be closer to 1:24:00 at sea level (6:25 pace). I'm wondering, if I ran that on four months training (lifetime) averaging about 35 mpw (over 5 days), would it be totally unreasonable to think I could run 6:00 pace for a half marathon at sea level if I ran, for instance, another 4-5 months but more like 50-60 miles per week over 6 days? How hard would it be for me to break 5:00 for the mile? Or to qualify for Boston? (I'm not sure I'm ready for a marathon though.)
I'm clueless -- I've literally only been running for four months -- but I had a lot more fun with it than I expected, and I like being competitive with myself. What would be some good goals?