Milestones

It’s been quite a while since I posted a personal training update. We have been so busy with the Galloway group, traveling, and other personal endeavors, I have not taken the time to really sit with my training schedule and review the logs. I’ve hit some major milestones these past 6 weeks or so. With only 10 Saturdays until race day and a 27 minute PR goal out there for the world to see and know about, I’m feeling good about finishing Grandma’s Marathon in 4:30.

March 2011 Milestones

1. First 40+ mile week ever! 42.19 miles in first week
2. Highest monthly mileage ever! 164.89 miles
3. First weekend running back-to-back double digits: 12.7 and 11.75 miles (I did it twice in March!); 2^nd time =  13.1 and 10 miles

2011 Weekly Mileage to date

Monthly Mileage since joining Dailymile

April 2011 Milestones

1. 1,000 miles on DM – I’ll hit this milestone at mile 2 of my 6-miler planned for Tuesday.
2. One of my goals this year is to run at least 1,000 miles by 12/31/2011. I will hit 500 miles total in 2011 on my Wed run already this week!!!
3. Running the Merrell Down & Dirty Mud Run this Sunday. My first mud run/obstacle course. This has been on my list of events to do even before I started training for long distances when I was a more casual runner. My sis-in-law is joining me too!
4. Highest weekend mileage ever (28.1 miles this past weekend and then 29 miles the weekend of 4/22)
5. Highest back-to-back long runs (13.1 and 15 miles) this past weekend and then back-to-back 14.5 milers the weekend on 4/22
6. Registration for the Nike Women’s Marathon lottery complete! Approval notifications go out at the end of the month. Fingers crossed!
7. Kick Off for our next Galloway training group is on 4/27. These members will be training for America’s Finest City Half Marathon!

I am a little concerned that I have 4 weeks in between long runs. I had 3 long runs planned for April. I ran 23 miles on 4/3 but with those necessary schedule changes for the remainder of the month, my next LSD (26 miles) won’t happen until 5/1. I’m so happy a good friend of mine who is training for her very first half marathon will be joining me for the first 6 miles of that run!

My hope is that these longer back-to-back weekend runs will somewhat substitute for missing 2 long runs this month at least from a muscle training perspective. What I will miss is the mental training that kicks into high gear after mile 20. I’ve been doing well with it up to this point so I’m not going to waste energy on stressing out about something that may or may not happen. I’ll deal with it when it’s time to deal with it!

We all need to stay flexible or that internal pressure of “OMG I’m not going to hit my goal because I wasn’t perfect” can really build up. As one of my Dailymile friends reminded me recently “Don’t be a slave to a program”. It’s true. Life happens and you can’t plan for the all of the curve balls. It’s how you catch ‘em and what you do with them that keeps you on the path to success and achieving your goals.

On Saturday, for the third time in the last 11 months, hubby took me to see Thirty Seconds to Mars at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City. My sis-in-law joined us for her first 30STM concert experience. We started off the night at Camacho's on the City Walk. Yummmmmmy!!

All the girls go ga-ga for Jared!

Sadly, the beginning of the end of Smallville has arrived. This Friday marks the countdown to the 2-hour series finale. I've been making my way through the earlier seasons to keep my brain stimulated on my long treadmill runs. Just four more episodes and then the finale. I really can’t believe it’s here already. Ten years is an unbelievable run for a TV series, but it is time for our young Clark Kent to finally make his world-wide debut as Superman. Put on the suit and fly Clark!!!