Hi everyone, I've just recently started running competitively about two months ago. My original 5k time was 26 minutes, but now I'm running 19/20 minutes.
One thing that confuses me about my times is that I can run a sub 5-minute mile without too much difficulty, so I feel like I should be able to run a faster 5k. Any suggestions?
Anyways, I signed up a month or so ago for a half marathon that a bunch of my friends are doing. My original goal was to finish in 1:30, but now I'm wondering whether or not that's realistic. I've been running three or four times a week, but realized I've been doing mostly easy runs once I got Hansons Half-Marathon Training Method book.
Now I've been training a lot harder, and I find it difficult to believe I can run sub-7 minute pace for 13.1 miles on race day (which is May 3rd). To give you an example of what I'm talking about today I did a tempo run where my goal was to run at 6:50 pace, but I was only able to go at 7:45 pace (although that includes a mile of warm-up) for 6.75 miles.
I don't want to kill myself or set an unrealistic goal, but I also want to do the best I can. There's not much more training I can do at this point, so I'm wondering what everyone thinks I should do and also advice you'd have for me in the future.
Sorry to ask so many questions, but I was also wondering about a kid I know who ran the half-marathon last year in under !:40 (sub 8-minute miles) without training! He literally did no runs at all leading up to the race. Anyone have a clue how that's possible?
Thanks!