How am I getting faster?

I've taken a week off from anything. This upper respiratory infection and now the pollen just knocked me on my butt. Now I'm back! Today I'm happy to be back, we'll see about tonight when I'm riding hills on the trainer.

Now, getting faster. I need to. It's going to be hard work. I am looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. It all starts with VDOT. It's a test to see what all my times should be for tempo runs and easy pace runs. I've been told by Coach Rob "No more - I felt good and ran fast - kind of runs. If it says E pace, then you run your E pace." Done. I can do that. I hope.

Sam and I went to the track last night to do the test. Run 1.86 as fast as you can. Ugh. Doesn't sound THAT bad, but fast?

We got to the track and it was PACKED! There were other runners, a soccer game, and the high school track team. Those kids are super fast! Then, the weather took over.

Ok. I didn't run in rain THAT hard, but it looks tougher that way. We got kicked off the track for lightening and went to a field that we could run laps around. We figured out that we had to run 4.5 laps (thanks Garmin) as fast as possible. So I did. I did it in 16:24 - I wanted to finish in under 17 min, so I was very happy with that. I coughed my head off after I ran, but felt ok during it. This pollen cough I have going on is awful!


Now I know I'm a 34 on the VDOT scale and all my run times are mapped out. That alone will not make me faster, but will help keep me on pace and injury free. The real way I'm going to get faster? Wednesday night track workouts. Sam and I will be there. We are going to line up a babysitter and Wednesday night will be date night.

My next race is not until June 4th - a 1/2 marathon. I'm really looking forward to it. I really really want to get 2 hours flat. That means I need to be 11 minutes faster. I can do it. I can get there.

Does anyone else have big goals for their next race?