Closing the gap

In a feeble attempt to catch up on all the adventures you missed while I was not writing here, let me offer you one post with highlights.

As usual, spring was all about road running and racing. My year began with formal 10 mile training. I ran a new 10K PR in a training run and I knew that it set me up well for the race. As race day drew closer, it looked like it would coincide with the most sluggish and inopportune time in my menstrual cycle to be racing. I know it's not talked about, but I'm basically a tired achy blob the three or four days before my period. That's just how it is.

Foggy Bottom 10 Miler: I ran the 10 miler, hit my goal pace for all of two miles of it before having to slow down a bit. My legs didn't have the zip I wanted despite a full taper for the event. Be that as it were, I had never trained for a 10 mile race before so I still managed to lower my PR by three minutes.

1:12:35, 7:15/mi.

Redwood Wild River Run 15K: Six days later, I ran another race. RWRR is one of my favorites each year but I was a little concerned about racing twice this close together. My period began on Tuesday and my energy returned. Despite running fifty miles in between both races and this second race being hilly, I managed to hit that 10 mile goal pace I had planned after all. It was fun to get a second chance at that goal pace when I was feeling better. Another three minute PR here and my second time finishing runner up. One day I'll get that gigantic trophy!

1:06:09, 7:08/mi.

Spring training continued to intensify as I transitioned to marathon training. Once again, I targeted my local marathon, Avenue of the Giants, for the spring. Last September, they repaved a badly deteriorated road on the first half of the course and I knew I had to act fast if I wanted to run it on the fresh pavement.

Training went well. I hit paces I'd never before hit and brought my mileage up to 75 per week three times before tapering. Since the course isn't flat, I decided to train for a time slightly faster than what I wanted at the Avenue. My plan was to run a sub-3:20 time on this course; with over 1200 ft of climbing, I based my training on a 3:15 marathon time assuming that the hills would slow me down a bit.

My next post will be the marathon recap. I promise I'll finish it sooner than two months from now.