I’ve just finished Week 2 of my training for the Melbourne Half-Marathon. I’m feeling good!

Week 1 distance: 10.8mi (17.37km)
Week 2 distance: 12.4mi (20.01km)
Fastest mile so far: 10:41

That’s a distance increase of 15%. I know that’s higher than the 10% most runners aim for, but that’s because I’m still ramping up the length of my daily training runs. They’re at 35 minutes now, but in a few weeks they’ll top out at 45 minutes. Then the only increase will come from my long runs on the weekend.

I’m still going nice and slow on most of my runs (as per Galloway’s book), and I’m loving it. I did my long run yesterday at a 12:00/mile pace, and that included taking a minute’s walk break after every kilometer. I didn’t feel too tired at the end at all. In terms of injuries, my left hamstring has been feeling a little tender lately (I’m trying to remember to ice it each night) and my right shin started to feel a little sore towards the end of the run. My lower back pain is almost completely gone. I’ve been trying to pay more attention to my form, and I think that’s really going to pay off in the coming months.

I ran a “magic mile” on Monday night and managed it in 10:41. According to Galloway, that means I’m capable right now of running a half-marathon at a 12:30 pace. That’s actually a little bit slower than I ran it in May, so I’m not putting too much stock in his prediction right now. Or maybe I didn’t run the mile as quickly as I could’ve. It was hard to pace myself over the distance, and I was running on the sidewalk in Newtown (and therefore dodging people). Maybe for my next one I’ll make a trip over to the proper athletics track…