It is wonderful, glorious fall again in NE Ohio, and so a young-ish man’s thoughts turn to running. I like to train for longer runs in the fall, when the temperatures are cooler, the air is crisp, the leaves start to turn, and generally it is wonderful to be alive and outside. This year, I have decided to train for the newly-instituted half-marathon of the Akron Marathon. I’ll be running it with my boss, Jim, who is an avid runner who has run Boston.

Or so I thought. I’ve been having LOTS of trouble getting miles in. In order to run a half-marathon, I need to be able to run for two hours relatively comfortably. This fall, I came into the running season being able to run about 40 minutes with no great difficulty. For two months, I have been trying to build on that base, and I have had problems; after about an hour (if I am lucky), I have run out of gas. Some days it has been hard to get to 40 minutes. I have been blaming the heat (we have had very few days below 75 degrees – I prefer temperatures in the 60s or lower when running); my body does not like the heat, and it was not performing well. Still, the bottom line was that I was having trouble with long runs – I had only one run longer than an hour under my belt (1:20), and the race was only two weeks away.

So, today became the big test. Jim agreed to run with me on the Towpath Trail. This was good – I had company, and a very flat trail to run on. I had someone to help me check and keep a good pace. Also, today was ***perfect*** for running – it was in the upper 40s when we started, and only got up to the lower 50s. If I could not do the proposed two-hour run today, I was going to give up on the Akron half-marathon.

Well, the factors all equaled a great run. Jim and I got in 15.8 miles in 2:04 (7.7 mph or a 7:51 pace). We passed the 13.1 mile (a half-marathon distance) in 1:43 ( 7.6 mph or a 7:52 pace); we actually finished the last 2+ miles slightly faster than we had gone out (partly thanks to a finish-friendly wind). So, the good news is that the half-marathon is back on. I am confident that I am in shape enough to finish the race, and with a shot at my goal of breaking 1:40.

This did raise an interesting question (for me, anyway) of why my solo training runs were so bad. The heat was certainly a factor, but I also wonder if I was running too fast for distance training. When I train, I run property laps at CVCA – it takes about 20 minutes per lap, but I have no idea how far that distance is. I need to be running about 7.9 mph to break the 1:40 mark. All last winter and spring I trained for speed for 5k races. I was training and running up around 9+ mph. I’ve started to wonder lately if my body is splitting the difference – if maybe I think I’m going “slowly” to train for distance, but I’m really going 8.3 or 8.4 mph – way too fast for 13 miles, especially if it is combined with heat.

I think the speed may be part of it, because I felt great today. Partly that was having someone to run with, and partly it was the cool day, but I think it was also having someone to help check speed. Jim has a gadget for his shoe that “talks” to his watch and gives speed and distance. Using that, we were able to keep to a good pace. So, with a good run today, I got game….