For the second year in a row, I'm not racing the Sioux Falls Half Marathon. I love the race, and I love the race weekend, but I've focused on other fall goal races and will probably plan to use this as a training run for years to come to keep my streak (13 years!) alive.
When I was writing up our training program for TCM I was excited to see that the Sioux Falls half fell on the weekend of an 18 mile long run with 14 miles at goal marathon pace. That seems just about perfect! I edited it slightly to 13 miles at goal marathon pace, as I know there'll be a little break between the 5 mile warm up and the race to gear check my bag and get into the starting corral.
I will say that having to focus on my goal pace and race strategy for the Twin Cities Marathon this early and still this far out from the race put me into a PANIC. Especially because the half is typically warmer, humid conditions, and I wanted to be sure I ran by goal marathon effort instead of killing myself trying to do goal marathon pace on a less than desirable day.
I don't know if I have any actual goal times for this race, since it is a training run, but it'd be nice if the time reflected what I hope to accomplish at TCM, without leaving me feeling like I'd die if I have to do that all over again. I do want to finish feeling strong, picking up the pace the last 5k, and staying steady in the miles leading up to that, particularly on the hillier portions.
I suspect I'll finish in the 1:59-2:04 range, which would equate to my fastest Sioux Falls half since 2011, as a training run. I'd be pretty stoked about that. And I don't even use the word stoked. :P
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