Week in Review : Spring and Building Mileage

As I put in week after week of work, I become more satisfied with my decision to take 6 months off of racing and just train. The consistency of 6 months of mileage should help get me really strong for my summer marathon and than early fall marathons and November 50 miler I have planned.

It is strange not to have a race on the calendar for so long, I have not traditionally have taken this much time to build fitness. I usually go from 12 weeks of training to marathon and than repeat usually only having 5 to 10 weeks of training between. I wanted to take a different approach this training cycle. After this past 12 weeks, I will move onto another 12 weeks of marathon training where I will work on building mileage higher and long runs longer.

Going this route really takes patience. I am a girl of adventure and always looking forward to my next exciting adventure. So taking the time just to work without the imminent goal race on the horizon is stretching me a bit and makes me a bit antsy.There is not much exciting or glamorous to tell about just putting in mile after mile, day in and day out. But it is also so freeing just to enjoy the process and not be getting wrapped up in thinking "Am I fit yet" or "Am I there yet". Just enjoying each run without needing to be wrapped up in how my fitness is progressing is so so so nice. It makes my soul peaceful. 

For the most part, I am loving and finding lots of peace in the miles. Looking to build the miles even more in April and May before backing off in June. The extended day light of spring will set me up will with getting in the seconds runs of the day. 

Here is how this past week looked - 

Monday 7 easy 

Tuesday AM - 12 with 4 x 1.5 mile repeats @ 6;18 to 6:25 pace with 90 sec rest PM - 3.2 Recovery miles

Wednesday 10 miles easy

Thursday 11.50 miles easy

Friday AM - 10 miles with 5 @7:16 pace PM 3.5 Recovery miles

Saturday 7 miles easy

Sunday 8 miles easy 

Miles - 73 miles