2 weeks away from the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon, and I’m feeling strong. I had a good 2.5 weeks of solid training after my 5-day vacation in Mexico, and now I’m back in the groove. (Groovy, baby) Rest helps refuel my passion for running and prevents me from burning out both mentally and physically. When timed correctly, not running helps me come back stronger.
Here’s my mileage from Strava for this month:
I started using Strava in December 2013, and I’m still learning the bells and whistles, but it seems like a great tool to track my distance and time spent running. Not gonna lie, I’m looking forward to the end of 2014, when I can see just how much time I poured into this passion of mine. Wouldn’t it be great to end the 2014 year with 2014 miles? So perfect, right?
It’s also super helpful because I get asked quite often, “What’s your weekly mileage?” and being the hippie runner that I am, I have no idea. I do some quick rudimentary calculations and reply with a “40-50 miles??” that sounds less convincing than I’d like to admit. So… now I know, down to the last .1 mile!
This is quite a drastic change from my running habits from around this time last year. I was running on weekends, and squeezing in runs whenever I “had the time” or whenever I “wanted to” during the weekdays. Which meant I never ran on weekdays. :) Now, I aim to wake up at 4:15 AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays to squeeze in a morning run before the sun even comes up.
Having a more structured workout plan allowed me to make leaps in my performance and ensured that I was prepared for my races. It’s also boosted my confidence because I know I’ve put in the effort and completed my months-long training. I’ve done everything I could in the weeks before, and on race day, I’m ready for anything.
We’ll see in 2.5 weeks. Eek!