My Mileage is Increasing
For me there is always one week in the year that just sets me up for the racing season. It is the “ah ha” moment where you know that the base building you have done moves onto the next stage. This past week seems to have been the huge hurdle I have been trying to climb over for the past 6 months.
Now, the mileage wasn’t the longest nor the fastest, but for some reason this week it just clicked.
The pains in my shins have all but disappeared and the voices in my head are longer hounding me to stop short of my goal. I even had a great bike ride on the trainer (17 miles). Of course, on that same day I was able to run 5 miles and ride almost 7 miles on my Mtn. Bike all after my long 8.25 mile run the day before.
This week I believe ends my base building phase and moves me onto the next one. I plan on racing a 10k in 2 weeks and the inaugural Worcester Half-Marathon on June 13th.
I have some goals in mind and am not sure I’m going to meet them for these two races. The 10k is really about getting race ready. With the extra “winter weight” I’ve seemed to pack on my speed doesn’t seem to be at what it should. So, I’m going to focus on just racing without getting injured. I’ll try and run at a 8:50-8:55 pace.
The month of may and up until June 13th I’m going to go dry and stop drinking. I figure that will help me lose the extra pounds (as well as focusing on proper nutrition) and then my goal for the half-marathon will depend on my weight.
If I’m close to what I expect my racing weight to be then I’m shooting for a 1:40-1:45 which will be a bit quicker than my PR. I will try and push the pace but what is probably more realistic is an 8:30 pace which will put me in around 1:52 ish and I wouldn’t be unhappy with that.
My ultimate goal is a 3:19 for the Bay State Marathon in October but there is a log of work to be done. Strength training, building up a quicker pace, losing weight.
I hope I’m correct in that I’m coming of my base building and ready to start the serious training. I hope.
