Good Morning all. I am new to this site, and fairly new to running as well. Before I ask my question, let me give you a little history about myself.
I am 34 years old, and have never been a "runner". As a matter of fact, until 2007 I had never run more than 2 miles in a row. Although I wasn't a runner, I was athletic. I was a swimmer, football and basketball player for most of my life. After high school I joined the Air Force, and continued to be active in those sports. After I got married, I began to decrease the frequency of my activities and still never ran. Throughout my AF career I had always run just enough to pass my annual fitness test.
In Oct 2006, I nearly failed my fitness test, and this is when I decided to change my lifestyle. I still did not enjoy running, so I chose to give triathlons a try. In March 2007, I ran my first 5k (25:08) and felt really good about that, with only a couple months of running. Then I completed four sprint triathons in 2007. Towards the end of 2007, I was notified that I was being reassigned to Tennessee as an instructor. With the new job and long hours, I was unable to train for tri's. I maintained a small amount of running (12-15 mi/wk) until the beginning of 2009. In 2009, I started lifting weights and was rarely running. I did that until Sept. 09. In Sept I decided I wanted to see if I could do a couple tri's in 2010 so I started swimming, biking, and running again. Ultimately, I determined I still don't have enough time to train for tri's. However, I found a half marathon in Knoxville and decided to run it on March 28th 2010. So from the end of January through March, I began running 4 days a week (25-35 mpw) with a weekly long run that peaked at a 16 mile run about 4 weeks prior to my race.
I didnt feel good about my race results, and really felt like I just had a bad day. I tuned in a 1:56:xx time, but felt I should have been closer to 1:45:xx. I took the entire week off after the race (no training at all) and decided I want to be a "runner".
I am now trunning 6 days/wk, with a weekly long run of 10 mi, and am working on achieving the 10 miles/day goal. I did my annual fitness test last week and ran 1.5 mi in 9:32. I have no problems running most of my runs in the 8:30-8:45/mi pace, and typically keep my long run around 9:00-9:30/mi. I can hold a sub 8:00 mi for 6-7 miles. On Mondayof this week, I ran 6 mi at 7:55/mi pace.
With all of this information, my question is, what is a realistic time goal for a half marathon in November 2010, and my first marathon in April 2011 assuming I can maintain injury free & consistent training between now and then?
Oh, and I truely do enjoy running now.
Since I am new to this site, I have been logging workouts here and in my triathlon log. If you want to take a look, here is the link to my other log.
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/index-weekly.asp?memberid=48214&year=&month=&day=Thanks for your help, and I am still looking for a mentor to help me achieve my goals.
