In the best shape of my life

Posted on by under Shipping up to Boston

This last Saturday I ran my fastest 10K EVER! For years I’ve thought that I just wasn’t good at running and don’t have talent to truly be good. I figured out in the last couple of months that I was totally wrong all these years. I’ve just been doing it all wrong!!

For this 10k, I didn’t even train.. I mean I’ve been running 45-50 mile weeks, but no specific 10k training. I decided to do it to have guideline for training paces since my marathon training starts this week. When I got to the starting line Saturday I planned on starting out at 7:45 pace and just take it a little faster each mile. Instead I ran the first mile at 7:30 and decided to stick around that pace. I ended up running the whole thing even (which I never normally do 😅) and ran a 46:09!!

In 2020 I decided to qualify for Boston and I’m slowly getting closer and closer. I ran this same 10k in 2019 and ran a 50:19. That’s over 4 minutes faster!

In 2020 I read every blog I could and listened to so many podcast to figure out how to get faster. Here’s what I’ve done so far (I’m not done, but for the people who are where I was)

⁃ upped my mileage from 15-25 miles per week to 50 per week

⁃ Ran 80 percent of my runs 2-3 mins slower than 5k pace!!! Very important!!

⁃ The last month I’ve tried to get more sleep (this needs work 😜)

⁃ Started doing strength training 3/4 times per week during lunch

⁃ I do 1-2 workout runs per week.

⁃ Swap out shoes during the week

I’m listening a lot to the Run4prs podcasts, they have such great tips on their Instagram pace!! Just seeing the progress of the athletes they coach have made me feel like it’s possible for me to qualify for Boston.

The last time I ran anything even close to this 10k was back in 2008, a 46:12. I never got close after that cause I started running all my mileage as fast as I could in college. I also worked full time and went to school so never ever got enough sleep. I got sick every month and only got slower race times. Believe me, if I can get a PR at 31 after already been running since I was 17, you can do this too!!! You don’t need talent, just a lot of hard work.

There’s never a good time for running. There’s never a time where I’m like, “oh I guess I could go run now.” My schedule is always packed, even with me not having kids(which I often hear as an excuse), My life is very full. I’ve been working 45-50 hours a week. This means I get up at 3-4 in the morning and run in the dark, or run after work, also partly in the dark. Your schedule will never just free up for you to “have” time to run, you have to “make” time to run. It all just depends on how bad you want to reach your goals.

Getting ready for Marathon training

Posted on by under Uncategorized

For the last couple months I’ve been working on speed. I’ve learned that in order to run fast for the marathon, you first have to be able to run fast in the shorter distances. Dedicating a couple of months to 5k’s is great to build this. My speed is horrible… let me explain.. my 200 speed is the exact same as my 5k speed! Pretty bad… of course I’m not gonna change this too much in just a few months. It’s gonna take a while and I have to be patient. Having no patience will only lead to injury which will push my goal out even farther.

The beginning of the year I was hoping to officially break 23 minutes in the 5k. Last years PR officially was 23:30. I used the pfitzinger training plans and got my time down to 22:13. I was hoping to break 22 this last 5k, but had to adjust my goal due to the weather. It was 92% humidity!

The last month I feel like I was finally gaining speed. I asked my uncle for help and he gave me a couple super hard speed workouts. Pyramid workouts; 100-200-300-400-300-200-100, as many sets you can handle with 200 slow jogs in between. Then 200-300-400-500-400-300-200 the next week, also as many as you can handle. Then finally the next week 400-500-600-800-600-500-400 with 200s after all but 400 jog after the 800. Also as many as you can handle. I did 2 sets for all these and they had me tired for days after.

I’m not a fan of speed work in any way, so am excited to start base building and get ready for marathon training in the fall. I’m starting around 40 mpw working up to 60 or higher by September. During this base building block I’m focusing more on strength work, since I’ve been lacking much on that part.

What marathon are you training for??