Hey everyone!
After a year riddled with injuries in 2014, I have set my sights on Gold Coast Half Marathon, at the beginning of July. I would like to finally go sub90 mins; I ran a 1:30 at Philly Half in November 2013, and have maintained fairly consistent cross training when injured. It may still be a stretch though.
I have 10 weeks between now and then, and I have safely built up to ~45 miles (very slow running, and very gradual build up!) I would like to build up to ~50mpw in advance of the race. I typically get injured when I hit those distances and add speed work/tempo running too soon.
My questions are: (1) Do I concentrate now on getting my mileage up to >50pmw or do I start adding some tempo (ie HM-paced) workouts before I get up to that; (2) of the former, how long should I run that sort of mileage before it is "safe" to add some workouts?
I think I know Sasha's response will be to increase miles before adding any workouts
But there are two reasons I'd rather add some workouts. First, I have had really good improvements in fitness by doing lactate threshold-ish running even just once a week. Second, I have a busy job and don't really have time to go much beyond 50mpw. Finally, it seems like that could be enough of an aerobic base for a half marathon distance (as opposed to the marathon).
I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts!