One thing that helped me bounce back from the marathon was
beginning to do some more cross training. From November to May, my entire focus
was on training for the marathon and running was the only exercise that I was
doing. My pace for running is still pretty inconsistent right now, but the
cross training has definitely helped my running. Jason and I have made hiking a
weekly thing this summer and 3 hour hikes are definitely a great workout. I have
also started biking a couple days a week too and that is also a great workout.
I really wanted to get into biking because I am considering completing a
duathlon next year. I am not a very good swimmer so a duathlon would be perfect
for me. I know that I will definitely do at least a couple of half marathons
again next year, but I am not so sure about another marathon. If I do not do
another marathon, then I will definitely have the time to devote to training
for a duathlon. That is definitely on my bucket list and I am already thinking
about my big workout goal for 2014.
For the remainder of 2013, I plan to take it easy on the
running. I will still enter shorter road races and continue running regularly.
I have no intention of doing any longer races again until late next winter or
next spring. I want to spend some time just running for fun again and enjoying
running some shorter races. I have run two 5K’s in the past month and I was a
little disappointed after I finished each of them. My speed for shorter
distances definitely improved quite a bit after training for the Buffalo
Marathon so I expected to PR in both of these races. I technically did PR at
the Corporate Challenge, but the course was not exactly 3.1 miles. The
Corporate Challenge was a huge struggle for me and I just could not push myself
to go any faster. I was the last one to finish from our team even though I
tried to keep up with everyone. I was pretty disappointed after that, but you
cannot expect to PR every time that you race. I also started running again the
week of the Corporate Challenge so it was no surprise that the race was
difficult for me.
I spent the weeks following the Corporate Challenge just
trying to get back into a regular running routine. Running has definitely
gotten easier again over the past few weeks, but I have still been pretty inconsistent.
Some days running is really easy and I have a pretty good pace. Some days running
is a struggle and I am pretty slow. Despite my inconsistency, I have gotten the
desire to begin racing again. Since I am ready to do some shorter races, I have
been making sure that I run 3.1 miles at least once a week. I ran 3.1 miles 1 ½
minutes quicker than my 5K PR this past week. I was so happy that I had such a
good run that I decided to enter a 5K this past weekend. I thought for sure
that I would get a PR at the Taste of Lancaster 5K, but that did not happen. I
had a really great first mile and I had set into a pretty comfortable pace. It
was pretty hot out that morning and I definitely slowed down during the other 2
miles. I was disappointed when I saw that I was not going to get a PR, but I
was less than a minute away from my best time. I should have been able to get a
PR because I had just proved that I could do it a few days before. I am not
sure why the last two races were so difficult for me and why I now have the
inability to PR during a race. I think that I need to get a couple more races
under my belt and a few more weeks of running before I am satisfied with where
I am as a runner again. I am definitely on the right track now and I am very happy
to finally be bouncing back from this marathon.
For those who were wondering, here are my running statistics
since the marathon:
May 2013
5/30/13 – 2 miles in 20:11 (10:06 min/mi pace)
June 2013
6/3/13 – 4.25 miles in 39:20 (9:15 min/mi pace)
6/9/13 – 2 miles in 18:56 (9:28 min/mi pace)
6/11/13 – 4.5 miles in 39:44 (8:49 min/mi pace)
6/19/13 – 7 miles in 1:12:14 (10:19 min/mi pace)
6/20/13 – 1 mile in 7:56 (7:56 min/mi pace)
6/20/13 – 1 mile in 7:34 (7:34 min/mi pace)
6/20/13 – 1 mile in 7:40 (7:40 min/mi pace)
July 2013
7/8/13 -5K in 28:29 (9:11 min/mi pace)
7/10/13 – 5K in 31:29 (10:09 min/mi pace)
7/11/13 – Corporate Challenge 5K in 28:17 (9:06 min/mi pace)
7/14/13 – 4 miles in 43:43 (10:56 min/mi pace)
7/16/13 – 1 mile in 8:16 (8:16 min/mi pace)
7/16/13 – 2 miles in 17:40 (8:50 min/mi pace)
7/17/13 – 5K in 29:27 (9:30 min/mi pace)
7/21/13 – 5 miles in 52:44 (10:32 min/mi pace)
7/23/13 – 6 miles in 1:00:42 (10:07 min/mi pace)
7/26/13 – 5K in 29:52 (9:38 min/mi pace)
7/30/13 – 8 miles in 1:21:19 (10:09 min/mi pace)
7/31/13 – 5K in 26:56 (8:42 min/mi pace)
August 2013
8/3/13 – Taste of Lancaster 5K in 29:08 (9:23 min/mi pace)
8/4/13 – 1 mile in 7:40 (7:40 min/mi pace)
8/4/13 – 1 mile in 7:43 (7:43 min/mi pace)
8/4/13 – 1 mile in 8:34 (8:34 min/mi pace)
8/4/13 – 1 mile in 8:31 (8:31 min/mi pace)
