Half marathon preparation

Feeling a bit sluggish this week, in the build up to the Brass Monkey half marathon, I decided to compare my preparation this year with last year. I decided to look at the 9 weeks up to the week before the race date. I guess opinions will be divided on what is 'good' half marathon preparation, but here is the analysis that I've done:

2011

distance run: 805 km (average 89 km/week)
distance of 5 longest runs: 108 km (21.5 km average)
4 races, 4 track sessions, 5 rest days.

2010

distance run: 726 km (average 81 km/week)
distance of 5 longest runs: 108 km (21.6 km average)
5 races, 5 track sessions, 8 rest days

Overall I've run about 10% further this year than last year, although there is no difference in the total length of my 5 longest runs. The three fewer rest days account for much of the difference in total distance run. The weather this year was much colder (with more snow) in late November & throughout December, but relatively milder in January. This affected when I ran races & track sessions...... The Thirsk 10 was cancelled this year & most of the December track sessions, whereas last year it was January when the majority of track sessions were cancelled.

Certainly there are quite a few other factors which will affect how quickly I run at this year's Brass Monkey race, for example last year the conditions were ideal (cool, dry, no wind) & I seemed to have one of those days when running seems easy (until the last 5k). Currently I feel as though running fast is hard work, although hopefully that will change by the weekend.

Today's run was an easy 14k out & back on the Nesfield Road to the A59. The outward leg seemed to be a real struggle, even though I was only going at a very modest pace. On the way back I did at least speed up a bit & running seemed a bit more comfortable. Not sure that I got much benefit from yesterday's rest day.