Am I in Better Shape This Year Than Last?

Last year I did a pretty good job of training, culminating in my best half marathon time ever, 1:53 something. This year I want to do better of course, since there is a still a 10 minute gap I have to close with Fast Alex.  So my question to myself is, am I in better shape this year than last?  Is there reason to think there will be an improvement?

I have run very consistently this year, 6 days a week every week but I think my pace is slower and probably overall mileage.  I think my heart rate might be better though.  So here is a comparison of my training week in the last week of January in 2012 and 2013!

Last Year

Tuesday - it looks like I swam, biked 10 minutes, and ran for 1/2 a mile?
Wednesday - looks like I ran just under 40 minutes, 4 miles, the first mile slow (~11:00 min/mile), the middle two miles fast (8:45 min/mile), and the last mile slow again (around 10:30 min/mile).  When fast heart rate was 182 or so, when slow it was 151 and then 165 after
Thursday - spin class
Friday - 2 miles, 10:00 min/mile, avg heart rate was 159
Saturday - 3 miles, 8:45 min/mile, avg heart rate was 175, seemed to settle out at 180 for the last part of the run, also did a spin it appears
Sunday - long outdoor run, 7.31 miles, 11:19 average pace, average heart rate was 157
Total mileage - 16.5 miles

This Year

Tuesday - 2 miles, 10:15 min/mile pace, 152 average heart rate
Wednesday - 2 miles, 9:40 min/mile pace, 158 average heart rate
Thursday - 3 miles, 9:45 min/mile pace, 164 average heart rate
Friday - 1 mile, 8:15 min/mile pace, 172 average heart rate (rose to 179/180 by the end)
Saturday - 4 miles, 10:30 min/mile pace, average heart rate 151
Sunday - 1 mile, 8:00 min/mile pace, transition run after spin, heart rate rose to 170 bpm by the end
Total mileage - 13 miles

The two mile workouts are probably the most comparable, and it seems from them that my heart rate is slightly ahead of where it was last year.  I think after this week last year I started to pick up my speed and my long run distance, so I may have to factor that in for future runs...