THOR running: Not fast..but I pound the pavement!

Welcome to the blog! For your training, if you can run 3 at 7:45 at all, you could probably run 5 at a slower pace (9:00). I would recommend starting at 5 miles a day 6 days a week at a comfortable pace, and then gradually building up your daily mileage. Note that most marathoners, especially the faster ones, run most of their mileage at about 1-2 minutes per mile slower than their marathon race pace.

Your race results show that aerobic base is really what you need to work on. The evidence is that you can hold 7:45 pace for 3 miles in a non-race situation, yet you race a half-marathon at 10:00 pace, a slow-down of 2:15 per mile. A runner with good aerobic base will slow down by no more than 30 seconds per mile from the pace he can hold for 3 miles in the half-marathon.

Thanks Sasha for the great feedback! For my previous three 1/2 marathons I did not train at ALL. A friend of mine was running them and I just up and ran them with him for support plus we were playing golf right after the race at a really nice course so I could not pass up on that opportunity! :-) I know it sounds a little crazy but most of my friends tell me I am crazy for running 13.1 miles when my car is working just fine! lol

Ok..So since my last marathon in November I have been trying to actually train - sounds like a novel idea right?! This is based on the fact that I decided... as a personal goal I want to A) Run a full maration and then B) Qualify for the Boston. Hence I have started to see how fast/hard I can push myself to go to get into my best running condition. Although I know it is going to be a big learning curve. I am very very very competitive and will push myself really hard. I 100% agree with your feedback about increasing my aerobic base. I am fairly fit from a muscular perspective (i.e. lift weights 3-5 times per week) but have a stocky build and am honestly carrying about 30 lbs too much. So for my 1st full marathon race in March (ING Georgia) I am planning on loosing about 20-25 lbs. (Can easily do by cutting out sweets - I love to eat :-) and by running. However my biggest challenge is "speed" at a 10 min mile pace I feel like I could run a full marathon tomorrow.. it is what I call my groove pace and I feel like I could run it all day (literally) even when I am tired.. I can putt putt along at that pace. What I am hoping to do is to get that groove pace down significantly. Only time will tell but I am pretty determined so I don't see any signs of failure in the future!

As I said earlier, your problem is not speed! It cannot possibly be. For anybody who has not trained at 100+ miles a week for years, their problem is not speed. Of course, at some point, the lack of speed stops everybody. No human so far has been able to run a marathon at 60 mph because they cannot run even 100 meters at that speed. That would be a speed problem. If you can run 3 miles at a certain speed, but cannot run a marathon at that speed, and you do not have a history of training, this is 100% endurance problem. And the best way to develop endurance is to run a comfortable pace for as long as you can. The reason slower running builds endurance better than faster running is that a) endurance builds in proportion to the distance you cover, and is not very much affected by how fast you cover it once you get past a certain threshold (about 60% of your max heart rate), and b) you can cover a lot more distance at a slower pace. So to get good results, you should increase the distance and the frequency of your runs as much as possible, and slow down the pace sufficiently to be able to handle it without injuries and overtraining. Mileage should be increased very gradually, though, always in proportion to your current fitness. For now I would recommend running 5 miles a day 6 days a week at 9:00-9:30 pace, and even 10:00 would not be a bad idea if it means you can go longer.

ok.. I think I finally gotcha! It appears as though my running is not the only thing that is slow these days :-)

Fair enough so I will definitely start running slower and longer. Does the mileage have to be run at one time or can you break it up (i.e. 3 miles in the morning & 2-3 at lunch). My only concern is time, longer distances take me quite a bit more time so I want to ensure my work-out plan is something that I can maintain. Balancing work and two little ones I definitely can get out for at an hour interval but longer than that will be tough.

Breaking it up is a great idea. It allows you to more miles with less stress on your body. I think 3 in the morning + 3 at lunch is a great plan for you right now. One thing you can do with your kids is get a double stroller and push them in it once you are ready for more miles.