Test– 100% success!

For the first time, I ran this afternoon 21.1 km (according to my GPS). Actually, I did 22.1 km, with the first kilometer as a warm up, then I stopped my watch at 22.1 and continued into my cool-down. Time - 2:03:40. I had great moments, but also those somewhat less pleasant (need to find a Wend's, which means I had to slow down. So when I look at my chart, I see that my pace is well below 6:00 / km, apart from the moments preceding the break in the bathroom when I tried to keep pace, but without success. Otherwise I would have done my "half" under the two hours. But, well, it happens even to the best (what I'm not). The experience is fantastic. With the fine weather, full of energy (one bar PowerBar and 3 gels - at 5,10 and 15 km), I made ​​one of the best races of my (brief) career as a runner . So if I continue to train properly, I know I am able to run effortlessly under 2 hours in about 4 weeks.

Not bad…at all

Let me say a few words about my long run on Sunday.
As the name indicates - it was a long run. Nineteen kilometers. It was a great mix – light jog, running near the anaerobic threshold, a small break between two accelerations ... for a total of 1:58, which is not so bad.
Today I made ​​a somewhat similar combination, but much shorter. "Only"12 km. But every day I feel more confident to face the distance of 21.1 km. With the good weather that arrives, my workouts will become more and more interesting. I already planned several races. Aside from my half-marathon in April, I would run 5 or 10 km of Spring Challenge (on May 7) and certainly 5km at Reha-Thon in Laval, on May 15.
I still did not decide how far I'll run at the Montreal Marathon. I hesitate between half and 10 km. A “tiny ten” is my favorite distance, but I'll see whether I’ll love the half.

Finally – the interval training

For the first time in almost a year, I did an interval  training. Or almost. Let me explain. When I was in top shape before  the hernia in April 2010, I was running my intervals between 4:18 and 4:20 min / km and my anaerobic threshold was around 5:00. Last night I was pretty far from one and another, but I managed to run about 85% (160 bpm) of my max HR, what I have not done for 11 months. At a pace of around 5:08 (with a maximum of 4:34), my training was by far the toughest and fastest since April 29, 2010. I'm still not in good shape (just acceptable), but I'm ready for my first half on April 19. And then, I have several months to prepare myself for my second half - in September. In any case, no one runs a half-marathon at the intervals speed! But I like them, anyway.