Good training

My training for the Surf City marathon has been going fantastic! It feels so good to have all of my runs in my calendar and have a specific goal that I am working towards. It makes me a little disappointed in myself that I sputtered along for so many months. But, I am back at it now and I must say, I have never felt this prepared for a race since I started racing. My paces are all on track for my goal time. Looking back through my stats leading up to all of my other races, I am consistently close to a minute per mile faster. That's a good thing. When I first started running, I was plagued (like most people) with some injuries that threatened to sideline me for awhile. That really bummed me out and I discovered low heart rate training. Which basically gets you to slow down a bit, which in turn, tends to mitigate future injury.

I believe in low heart rate training, but like anything, TOO MUCH of a good thing is bad. You HAVE to mix in speed work or else you become, well... slow! It worked out ok for me because I needed that huge aerobic base for my cross country run, but, it wasn't that great for races. Now, I am mixing in speed work, tempo runs, hill training, Lasso 800's etc. and everything is working beautifully. I did my last 20 miler at a 10:01 avg. which is much better than my previous long runs leading up to my marathons. My tempo runs have been very comfortable at around 8:30's and it was effortless to do a sub 9 the last mile of my 12 on Sunday. All very good signs to shoot for a sub 4:00 marathon. Boy wouldn't that be great? But, I will be happy with a PR of 4:07 or less.

Now, all this running has got me thinking about another adventure. Of course running across Europe holds a great appeal for me. But, realistically, that may be a few years off due to logistics. So, maybe something a little more close to home. Possibly the southbound route from Canada to Mexico, or maybe Maine to Key West. An east coast run sounds like so much fun! I have become so fascinated with history that my own little tour of the 13 colonies would be amazing. We'll see, but it is very much on my mind and when I do a big run this time, it will be coming from a happy place. Not running away from anything, but towards something. Meeting great people and seeing beautiful places. That sounds like something to look forward to!