Running Rewind: March 2011

March was a pretty good running month, but a great racing month.  I wasn’t aware of it, but the 2 previous March totals were identical at 100.1, so even though I fell short of my monthly goal, I was in no danger of pulling off the “barely over 100 miles” trifecta. My total for the month finished up at 134.3.  Lessons I learned:

1. Running more miles over a long period of time is really starting to pay off.  My average pace for the months of March has dropped each year (13:25 to 10:11 to 9:15).  The numbers are a little skewed because 2 years ago I was doing low heart rate training (which slows the pace) and this year I raced a half marathon (which would quicken the pace).  Still, consistency does pay dividends, and I’m seeing them.
2. Less is more.  I really struggled the last few weeks because I knew that my weekly mileage was going to drop due to the half marathon, and I have been trying to slowly get up to a consistent 40-45 miles per week.  I made the decision to try and take it easy the week leading up to the race and the week after, mainly so I’d be fresh on race day and stay fresh after.  It was hard to see the mileage drop, but I don’t think I would have gotten sub 1:50 in DC if I’d have just run to chase mileage.
3. In a race, it’s okay to walk when you need to, but a slower jog is faster than a quick walk, and can help you recover just as well.  The race in DC really pushed my limits, and I found myself tempted to walk a lot more than I did in the later stages uphill, but I found a mental toughness that I had previously only hoped I had.

I won’t go into all the details about the race since I already wrote a recap of it, but I’ll just say that it was without a doubt the highlight of the month, and it was the first time I’ve raced something that long with a goal and nailed it.  That alone felt good.

I am shooting for 2,000 miles this year, which means that I had hoped to be at 500 miles at the end of March.  I’m about 50 miles short of that, and that was one of the reasons I struggled with the decision to back off around the race in DC, but with marathon training still to come, I should be able to make those miles up later.  At any rate, I’m on pace for 1,800 which would still be a  nice improvement from 2010.

Rewind stats:

• Total miles: 134.3
• Average per week: 33.6
• Races: 1
• New records: Half Marathon (1:49:35 – a 14 minute improvement)
• Consecutive triple-digit months: 13

Running Rewind: Feb 2011

February continued a couple themes for me:

1. I ran more than any previous February.  A lot more.  2009 was 106.4, 2010 was 57.4, and this year I ran 161.4.  Nice.
2. I came up short of my target mileage.  Closer than January, and honestly closer than I thought I’d get in a month with only 28 days, but still missed the 165 mark.  So, we’re 2 months in and I’ve missed the target both times, which means that while I’m way ahead of previous years in mileage, I’m behind pace for getting 2k.
3. I ran over 100 miles.  My triple-digit month streak is now at 12.

The tempo runs are still going well.  I did three (one week I skipped the tempo to run recovery miles after a harder long run): 4 miles @ 8:03, 4.5 miles @ 8:04, and my longest tempo to date was 5 miles @ 8:09.  The last one was tough towards the end, but what a feeling knowing I had done it!  That alone makes me feel stronger as a runner, and knowing you CAN do it is all the difference sometimes late in a race.

No races this month, but I am closing in on my first Half-Marathon of the year at the end of March.  I’ll be shooting for a 1:50.

Rewind stats:

• Total miles: 161.4
• Average per week: 40.4
• Races: 0
• New records: N/A
• Consecutive triple-digit months: 12

Running Rewind: Jan 2011

Yes, I’m a little behind, but I need to go ahead and recap how my running went in January so that I can then recap how it went in February so that I can then be caught up.  Understand?  Great.

After seeing how my running totals have progressed over the last 3 years, I decided that my goal for 2011 would be to run 2,000 miles, which I then broke down into 12 parts so I’d have some kind of monthly goal to shoot for.  That number is 165 (I know that’s 20 short, but I can make that up towards the end of the year easily).  Of course, running is rarely that simple – monthly mileage fluctuates depending on what you’re training for, so there will be months that are a bit higher or lower, but at least I have a target.

For reference, my January totals in past years were 84 and 57 (2009 and 2010), so this was going to be quite a bump up in early year mileage, and for that reason alone I wasn’t upset that I missed the 165 target.  Not by much, but I came up a little short with 152, which is still almost double my best January.

Two things of note happened in January:

1. I started doing weekly tempo runs.  A much better and faster member of an online running community mentioned that adding these to my routine would really help my race times, and so I figured it was worth a shot.  Turns out he was right.  My “Tuesday tempos” turned out results like 4 miles @ 7:55 pace, 4.5 miles @ 8:17, and 4 miles @ 8:11.
2. I PR’ed my first 8k.  I know, it was going to be a PR anyway because it was my first, but I ran it perfectly.  I had a target goal and beat it by almost a minute.  This was the first race that put my tempo runs to the test, and it felt great to “pass” it.  My goal was 40:00 and I finished in 39:04. You can read about it here if you’re really bored.

Rewind stats:

• Total miles: 152.0
• Average per week: 38.0
• Races: 1
• New records: 8k (39:04)
• Consecutive triple-digit months: 11