Another Galloway Long Run

This morning I met the Galloway Training Group at Shelley Lake again, and decided to go with the 14/15 group again, especially since I did the 4-mile race yesterday. We did five 1-mile repeats with the intent of practicing getting closer to race pace. With the 14/15 pace group, the first couple of miles were that way, but the last three were slower. With my tired race legs, I didn't mind the slower pace. I started out as one of the faster people in the group this morning, but by the end I felt tired enough to slow down and talk more with people.

The group leader and I got things straight in terms of mileage this morning. Last week I was a bit discouraged because the group went a shorter distance than was on my training schedule for the City of Oaks Marathon, and the group leader insisted that 10 miles was correct. Well, it turns out that because I'd just (re)joined that group, she didn't know what my target race was, and no one else was planning to do the City of Oaks Marathon at the time. (Another pace group member has since let her know that it's her target race too.) I didn't think to tell her either.

I enjoyed talking with Leigh Ann this morning; she works with diabetics, so we had a lot to talk about. I also had fun getting to know Janet, whose twin sister, Janette, is running with the 13 pace group.

Because of the intended speed work, I ended up doing 8.02 miles in 2:15 today--faster than last Saturday, but a slower overall pace than yesterday (big surprise). I enjoyed the earlier meeting time today.

Big Run

This morning I ran for 45 minutes on the treadmill for 4.15 miles! This is the longest time I've run in training, though 5Ks earlier this year took me longer to run. 4.15 miles is the farthest I've run in over 20 years, so this is a milestone, for sure! I followed up with 10 minutes on the elliptical, before going to breakfast at the Rice House.

During the workout I listened to a podcast called Phiddipidations, done by "Steve Runner," and it was the episode where he ran the Boston Marathon--don't recall if it was this year's or last year's. Still, it was really interesting to listen to as I ran and did the elliptical.

I'm up to 15.2 miles for the week, which is exciting for me! Definitely a high weekly total for the year.

Good run

This morning I spent 20 minutes on the treadmill for 1.74 miles, a record for me this fall. (The last time I ran longer on the treadmill was back in June.) Running a 5K on the treamill seems like a realistic goal again! I've run 3.46 miles for the week so far, already beating the 5K/week goal, so I think it's time to shoot for a steady 5 miles/week. (I'll nail it this week with the mileage from this Saturday's 5K.)

I also did 45 minutes on the treadmill! I'm still feeling strong and pretty awake, not as tired as yesterday.

In Training

This morning I ran 20 minutes on the treadmill, for 1.7 miles (11:45/mi. pace)! It's been months since I've run twenty minutes outside of a race, so I'm excited about the progress. I've been looking at my running log on Cool Running, and have noticed that my mileage on non-race weeks is less than a 5K, so I've decided to run at least 5K (3.1 miles) per week to start building my mileage base. I've been wanting to increase my mileage, but since I hadn't put a number on it, it wasn't happening yet. So, I've run 3.46 miles already this week. Hmmmm, should I make it a 5-mile minimum per week? I haven't hit that mark since May and June, when I got sidelined with the plantar fasciitis. My foot is feeling a little sore this morning, probably because I've run three days in a row. I'll go light on the running for the rest of the week and see how it goes.

I also did 30 minutes on the elliptical this morning. I've noticed that when I run first, my heartrate is up on the elliptical, and I tend to sweat more. I feel like I'm getting a better workout. I did raise the resistance to 9 during my elliptical workout for a little boost, while doing one of the gluteal programs. (I also did a .5 incline for part of my treadmill run.) I'm trying to get stronger for hills during races.