sorry to be ¨that guy¨ but i´ve received some good advice on here before, so i figured i´d press my luck...
I´m running my 3rd half this coming Sunday. My first one I was quite happy to run 1:23 and change, even though i died in the final 3 miles. My second one was a disaster and I completely died the last 4 miles (1:26, i think, but i´ve blocked it almost completely from my memory).
My training has been up and down recently - 60 miles a week in january, injured from mid feb to mid march, then 35-40 miles a week until the last two weeks which have both been in the 50´s. Not as much as I´d like to be really prepped for it, but what can you do? I´ve done some recent workouts to help judge my fitness, and have been encouraged - 4x2miles with 2 min rest in 12:20 to 12, getting stronger as i went. 6 mile continuous tempo averaging 6:06, and another 10k tempo in 37:54 (pushed a bit at the end of that one).
Sorry for the long buildup but i wanted to be clear about my training before getting to my question. My minimum goal for the race is to PR, my secondary goal is to run sub 1:22, and my dream would be to break 1:20 (perhaps a bit far-fetched right now). A marathoning friend has suggested i follow the 5-5-5 strategy, run 5 miles at 5 secs over goal pace, 5 at goal pace, and then 5k as hard as i can.
The question is, how aggressive should i be in setting this goal pace? I was thinking 6:15, but if i do that and go out in 6:20´s i won´t have any chance to go sub 1:20 if i´m having a perfect day. At the same time, both of my previous half´s i´ve blown up somewhat or extremely badly the final 3 miles, so i´m wary of that as well.
Any words of wisdom out there? I'm torn between pushing myself as hard as i can to see what my fitness is really like, and my respect for the distance. All this pàcing shit is a helluva lot easier with a 5k!
thanks,
dt