gratz on properly finishing and keeping the pace (quite) constant.
did you use a pace group?
you should always use manual lap-function if you want proper mile splits in a race. it's completely normal do see quite large discrepancies between your "watch-distance" and the race-distance. two main reasons:
a) you don't run the ideal tangent line and you swerve to pass people. that's the main factor.
b) gps is just not really a precise technology in consumer products. under IDEAL conditions, it's +- 3m accuracy. under average race conditions (often partly inside a city with over- and underpasses and skyscrapers and trees and clouds and rain etc) it's a lot less precise. this can lead to longer or shorter measurements (normally it ends up being longer).
future race plans: i'm not a fan of it. when i pick a goal race, i really want to race it all out. i want to peak for the race and be in the best possible condition. if you race once a month, this is not possible. you spend nearly two thirds of the month either recovering from the last race or tapering for the next race. and never really have time to just "train normally".
of course, it's a huge difference between running a 5k and a HM. you can run a 5k race every week ("taper" one day before, then recovery one day afterwards, done), no problem at all. but you can't do the same with a HM. personally, I would cut the december and march HM and instead really focus on nailing the two remaining HMs. and switch the 15k to a 5k instead. so it would look like:
december: 5k
1/16 Half marathon
february: 5k
3/5 10K
4/12 Half marathon
5/7 10K
btw: imho, focus on "speed work" the next few weeks imho during your "fast workout" of the week. do either shorter intervals (400m or 800m repeats or a mix of them; and with longish breaks in between so you can really attack every single one of the repeats hard). or do hill repeats (again, long recovery between them). the reason for that: you now have a solid endurance foundation that you can slowly expand. but you lack speed. your "fast pace" should be a lot faster than your slow pace.
as an example, compare yourself to ron. he runs sub4min pace (per km) in a 5k, but often does easy runs at ~6min pace. sure, it's maybe somewhat hillier and on a trail, but still, his easy pace is 50% slower than his fast pace. so based on your 11:15 min mile pace that you ~average on your long runs (as a guess), your "fast pace" should be somewhere around 7:30 mile pace (while in reality it's closer to 9:30). now, this is of course not really a useful direct comparison and it has no clear direct implications. but i just want to show that normally, the difference between "really fast" and "really easy" is quite large. for you, it's very close together. to change that:
1) again, run your easy runs slower. it's just not physically possible to do an easy run (for lets say 5-8 miles) at the same pace as your HM pace. if this were your real easy pace, you'd be able to run (a lot) faster during a race. so either: you don't go all-out during a race, but i'd be VERY surprised by this. therefore the most likely explanation is, that you run your easy runs too fast.
2) focus on speed work in training. as always: don't overdo it and take it easy in the beginning. DON'T pick workouts that mostly focus on the endurance aspect (aka long runs with short breaks in between), instead focus on the opposite. do shorter intervals (400m - 800m) and pick recovery times that allow you to nearly completely recover. the idea of the training is to work your speed, not your recovery capacity.
3) start doing strides at least once a week.
http://strengthrunning.com/2012/10/what-are-strides/ here is an explanation of them. do them towards the end of an easy run. focus on fast turnover and good form. stay relaxed. this is NOT a sprint workout. you should never feel tired doint it. recover for AT LEAST a minute after every stride and you should feel 100% recovered before you start the next one. again: this is just to improve your running economy and ergonomy. and as always: start out easy!
4) incorporate more 5k races into your calendar (see proposal above).
and +1 to the last post ron just wrote about the HM recovery. TAKE IT EASY!
Last edited by trontron; 11-09-2015 at 12:42 PM.