Spring Break

If we are talking about just running, then week 23 was pretty uneventful. However, it was spring break and I was home in Buffalo so the entire week was pretty eventful. I love being home and being able to spend time with my wonderful family and closest friends. I was worried about how my training would go in Buffalo this week, but I only ended up skipping one short run. After a hectic and fun few days at home, I decided that my body needed to take Tuesday off from running instead of getting my 4 miler in. I do not make it home for an extended period of time very often so I had plenty of things that I wanted to do this week. The best part of the entire break was celebrating Dyngus Day with all of the other crazy Polish people in Buffalo. I think that all of the polka dancing that I did certainly counts for cross training for this week.

Although I kept pretty busy all week, I was able to fit in the rest of my training without any problems. I knew that I could have easily skipped any of my other runs, but I'm trying to take this training pretty seriously. I was worried that being home would cause me to stray from my schedule. However, I think that spring break actually worked in my favor. It is amazing how much easier running is when you are well-rested and get enough sleep the night before any of your runs. The hardest run of the week was probably my 8 miler, but I think that the snow and the cold weather was what slowed me down. I was happy that the temperatures started warming up by the time that I needed to do a 5 miler on Thursday.

I think that being able to run in shorts and a t-shirt today was probably the reason why my long run was the best run of the week. I am grateful that Hal Higdon gave me a taper week after that 16 miler last weekend and before attempting a new long run next weekend. I knew that today's long run would be easier than last week and I set out for my run with a very positive attitude. I love being able to run through the streets that I grew up on and see so many familiar places or faces during a run. I also love being able to run through new streets that I am not used to typically running on. I was amazed at how easy 13 miles felt today and I felt great throughout the entire run. My body is also beginning to recover much more quickly from long runs and it does not even feel like my 13 mile run was actually today.

I would say that week 23 was another successful week of training and I am hoping that week 24 is just as successful. I am looking at an 18 or 19 mile long run next weekend so that will be a new first for me. My furthest distance up to this point has only been 16 miles so I am excited to attempt a new distance. I do not think that next week will be too difficult if I can continue to stick to my training schedule and prepare my body properly. There is less than 2 months left to prepare for the Buffalo Marathon and I am still feeling pretty optimistic and confident in my ability to be able to do this. It is amazing how far I have come as a runner and how easy so many of my runs are these days. I am excited to see what the next few weeks of training have in store as I push it a little further each week. Buffalo better watch out because it won't be long until I conquer 26.2!

Week 23
4/3/13 - 8 miles in 1:25:57 (10:44 min/mi pace)
4/4/13 - 5 miles in 50:23 (10:05 min/mi pace)
4/6/13 - 13 miles in 2:09:26 (9:57 min/mi pace)

338 miles complete in 53:27:46 and only 49 days until conquering 26.2 miles!