I just realized that I have not reported on any training walks since the Parkersburg Half Marathon. I’ll just skip the everyday stuff and hit the long slow days.

We decided that because we are doing three half marathons over 8 weeks, our between race long slow distance days would be: 8 miles, 10 miles then 8 miles (or 6 miles).

The week after Parkersburg, we walked at Sharon Woods park, which has a 3.8-mile loop. There are mile markers and even a mark to indicate where 4 miles is if you go beyond the start of the loop. Because we were doing 2 laps, I didn’t stop my watch at the 4-mile mark, but at the last 0.8 mile. We tried not to push hard since we were still in recovery. Our time for each mile was:

First Lap
15:05 Mile 1
14:50 Mile 2
27:16 Mile 3 and 0.8 (nearly 4)
Second Lap
14:14 Mile 1
14:34 Mile 2
14:59 Mile 3
12:12 0.8 Mile

This past Saturday we met at Alum Creek North in Westerville. (Not far from Sharon Woods, actually.) The mile markers are a little bit harder for us to see here, so our plan was to walk straight out 1 hour 15 min, then return. The thought was that we would not be walking slower than a 15-min mile average, so 2.5 hours would be our scheduled 10 miles.

As we were closing in on our turn-around point, Barb pointed out that we were actually walking about a 14:30-min mile! (She could see a couple mile markers I missed.) So, we turned around after 1 hour 10 min. I didn’t realize it, but on our way back, I got progressively faster! Finally, someone in the back of the group said we needed to slow down, so we did. Well. let’s just say I tried. Sometimes when I’m in a certain mode, I don’t realize I’m speeding up.

Even after really slowing down toward the end, we reached the finish spot at almost exactly 1:10! That never happens on a there-and-back day.

So this upcoming weekend our original plan was to do 8 miles again as our step down and taper before the Air Force Half. Some are leaning toward 6 miles and getting a little more rest. We’ll see!

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