Let me preface this by saying that I still have a lot of work to do, but… I finally worked my way up to my first 20 miler yesterday. It took me 2:45:17 on the treadmill, which is 8:15 pace. This is a huge improvement over last weekend’s 18 miler, which was at 8:30 pace. I’m finally feeling like I can push myself and my training is really starting to come together. I also hit 60 miles last week, which was a big goal of mine for this month.
I decided (with some encouragement) to run the Virginia is For Lovers 14k this weekend. I was hesitant to commit to this race because, after a year of running races and not being capable of pushing myself at all, I wanted to make sure I was in shape enough to actually RACE. I haven’t done any speed work or tempos, so it might be ugly, but I’m ready to finally toe the line with some confidence.
Why the treadmill? Well, the roads are totally clear this week, but 20 miles takes so long to complete. If you add in travel time to the park, setting up the BOB, travel time back, etc. it all adds up to four hours. If I do my run at home, Pete is able to take care of Emmaline while I run, let her nap in her own room, feed her, and overall it’s a lot less stressful. Yes, I would love to hit the trails, but I’ll save that for warmer days and my relatively shorter long runs.