Outside of training, the month of July wasn’t the most exciting or best month for me. In running, however, it was a great month of training. In fact, July was the best month of training I have had in 2 years.
Even with integrating speed workouts in, the month went very smoothly. I couldn’t have asked for a better month!
Miles: 296 (my highest mileage month in a very long time)
Paces: 5:59-12:05-untimed
Races:
Firecracker 5k (19:15)
Belmar 5 miler (33:04)
Community Heros 5k (20:20)
Run for the Hill of it 5 miler (34:40)
Best Race: Firecracker 5k
Favorite training run:
My track workouts were all fun. I think my first track workout was my favorite because it really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I realized I don’t mind the track too much!
I had a lot of fun runs with friends as well.
In summary, July got me out of my training rut. I’ve been maximizing speed workouts to get back to where I was.
Two summers ago when I moved to Texas, I stopped racing. I claimed racing is my “speed workout” but in reality I was only racing once a month if that. I wasn’t doing speed workouts and I wasn’t doing speed by racing. I was running slow easy miles all of the time and in time that made me race shorter distances slower. While I have raced occasionally in the last two years, I was not racing like when I was set my PRs.
Now I’m slowly getting back into the same shape I was in two years ago. I did not lose my speed in a week and I won’t gain it back in a month. I want to keep consistently doing the speed and training I am doing. I am beginning to feel confident with two workouts a week.
August Goals:
Races:
August 22: Belmar Chase 5k
I would like to find a few more races but I haven’t looked into them yet. I know they are out there. I’ll continue to add layers of workouts and mileage.
Questions for you:
How was your month of training?
What is the biggest helpful change you’ve made to help your fitness? (anything from food to sleep to life to training…)