Fit Friday! Setting Mini Goals During Marathon Training
Finally getting into the peak of marathon training here, and I'm feeling great. Aside from the fact that work has been eating me alive, I've still found time for every scheduled run. I'm looking forward to this weekend with my first 10K of 2015 at Run Seal Beach, and my first ever 20 miler on Sunday.
I've been reading a lot about first time marathon training, and have dedicated an entire board to it on Pinterest in the hopes that something I find there will lead me down the right path to success. Through the last few weeks and the changes I've gone through with my health and finally getting back to normal with my iron levels and energy, I've come to realize how unique everyone's running experience can be and I'm extremely grateful for what I've learned thus far. I'm also really proud of the small goals I've accomplished along the way. It's good to set goals within your training, so the focus is not just the race that you are training for, but making every run or workout important within itself because you become stronger.
10K Goal
One of my goals for 2015 was to run more races, and I've been successful thus far at running one race a month. In the Surf City Half Marathon last month, I was so disappointed and many folks offered advice of not racing while training for my first marathon. There's a lot that can go wrong. I'm glad that I figured out what was wrong, and fixed it. Run Seal Beach will be my last race before my marathon and I'd love to place in my age group.
20-miler Goal
To finish. Pure and simple. The beauty of training for your first marathon is that every long run is an accomplishment in itself. I've never run 20 miles before, and this Sunday my goal is to finish it.
Here's a look at this past week:
Saturday: 16 miles at 8:31 pace. I cut almost 5 minutes off of my previous 16 miler.
Sunday: Rest
Monday: 8.36 miles at 7:50 pace. I incorporated 2 miles of hills where I was able to keep my pace at 8:20.
Tuesday: 5.5 miles at 8:20 pace. Morning runs make it easier to pace because I'm still pretty sleepy.
Wednesday: 3.79 miles at an easy 8:26 pace.
Thursday: 10 miles at 8:03 pace. Miss running with the GRVL Runners because work kept me late. Tried to keep it slow, but I'm just so excited to be back and running fast.
43 miles total this week. Happy Friday!
J
