Week Review And Looking Ahead

Week of Aug 8-Aug 14

Sunday: No run. (Hike)

Monday: No run.

Tuesday: 12 miles

Wednesday: 3.3 miles

Thursday: 6.5 miles

Friday: 8.7 miles

Saturday: 4.9 miles

Weekly Total: 35 miles

I've been feeling really good the past few weeks. I've been feeling strong, which is exactly what I want to feel going into preseason. I've got a lot of good things going on! The past four weeks I've put in between 34-35 miles/week, even with taking 2 days off a few of the weeks. 35 miles a week may not seem like anything too impressive, but I'm happy with where I'm at because it feels comfortable and easy. I've gradually been increasing my mileage and making my long runs longer, and I'm not getting caught up in thinking about pace or total mileage. I'm just running by feel and adjusting my schedule as I go. I'd like to keep increasing my weekly mileage into the season (slowly of course) and try to work up to averaging 40-45 mi/wk. I'll see how it goes and how my body adjusts and handles more miles per week, but I think if I do it gradually like I've been doing it'll be no problem.

I've also noticed that I feel better doing longer runs. In the past, my normal training runs have mostly been between 3-5 miles, but that just isn't doing it for me anymore. I feel better doing between 6-8 miles instead. My high school coach told me she thought I was a marathoner at heart. At that point in high school the longest run I'd done was probably 7 (tough, grueling) miles, and I was like "Psshhht absolutely no way. Marathoner? I don't even like 5Ks!" But now I can definitely see it happening. I'm in no way ready to run a marathon right now, but I can see myself really loving the longer distances in the future... since it's already happening!

My PR last week was a huge confidence booster for me, and I'm so excited to get back to school for preseason. It's only one week away! Preseason is quite possibly my favorite two weeks of the year. I get to move back to beautiful Newton, live and hang out with all my friends/teammates, run and workout everyday, NOT have any classes to go to... it is so fantastic. Not to mention all the team bonding activities when we aren't practicing... tie dye, movie nights, frisbee, Boston trips, etc. I can't wait! This week leading up to preseason I'm taking extremely easy, probably only running 20-25 miles total and helping out with Noelle's camp.