Ran 5 miles today at 9:21 pace. My lungs felt great, my legs felt awful. Thinking I may start doing more speed work rather than adding milage until my legs are ready for distance.
Brand new here, but have been a track coach for about 20 years. Nit distance mind you, but been around a few that were good enough that I tried to learn a little bit.
I would agree with adding more speed/tempo stuff into the mix, that will be the fastest way to drop your avg mile pace. I'd recommend 2 days/wk. The other days(personally I would space 2 rest days/wk) you can focus on mileage. Keep the tempo training in all the way up to the race otherwise you will lose the effects of it.
The speed/tempo days should be pretty tough and kick your butt, resist the urge to take the days after them off. Use this day for longer mileage, don't worry about pace, just put in the mileage at what feels like a moderately comfortable pace.
Days before tempo days run shorter mileage at a moderate/fast pace. 2-3 miles to start with.
I would also say resist the temptation to "test" your race readiness by pushing the distance as your training progresses. With the exception of making your mileage days increase as your ability increases, but not pushing past 10 once a week. 1 time, race in oct so probably around late July early August find a 1/2 marathon race and go after it to test where you're at.
Again, I'm a sprint/hurdle coach so take anything I say with a grain of salt. The biggest thing to take into account is how your body feels. I'm roughly the same age as you and I still get after it on the track and softball diamond, but I need to be even more aware of getting a proper warmup before ANY training. A short 10 minute dynamic warmup before doing any training will help keep injuries away.
Good luck with the training and keep us all posted
You got this!!
