Well, I have been running pain free for a while now and I have tested the waters with two 5ks, so I have decided to run the Arkansas 20k in September. I dusted off my nifty Runner’s World SmartCoach app and finalized a training plan. I have ran 30 miles for the last two weeks, but I set the plan to begin at 15. I’m scared, lol. It feels good to be running with a goal in mind. I found it hard to stay motivated when I was just randomly running. I was always afraid I was going to run too many miles per week or too fast or do something dumb to get re-injured.
I made this decision on Sunday night, so I would have normally not done this during race training, but on Sunday I walked 4 miles in the heat.
Monday, I was to run 2 miles at a 10:47 pace. I did ok, but I should have started earlier. I haven’t had the entire summer to get used to the humidity and I suffered.
Wednesday was a tempo run. I was supposed to run 5 miles total with a mile warm up and cool down and 3 9:11 miles in between. Well, that really didn’t go as planned. I ended up just running the same pace for the entire time. Whoops. I did complete this run in Benton around my old high school. It was nice to relive memories while I was cruising along.
On Thursday, I was prescribed a easy 2 mile run at a pace of 10:47. Well, I waited until Aaron got home from work and it was almost dark, so I ran faster to get home before I got stuck in the woods with all the critters making scary noises. I know I am a grown up, but I am still afraid of the dark. There is no traumatic reason for this fear, but I cannot get over it…
Yippee, long run Saturday!! Today was 7 miles at a 10:47 pace. I was a little slow, but I got the miles completed with almost no effort. I should have ran harder, but I was just enjoying plodding along in my own little world. I get distracted a lot when I run and I like that. Running is my time to just space out and that is why I like to run far, rather than fast.
So, week one of my 20k training is in the books. It was nice and easy. Hopefully I will finish this race with ease to boost my distance confidence a little. The bad taste of my 50k DNF is still haunting me and I don’t think I will be rid of this feeling until I start completing longer races…
What do you think?