September Training
My oh my, where to begin this monthly recap? Thinking out loud, This month was a huge change for me. After roughly three months of injury recovery, I’ve made it over my injury. I’m not injured anymore, but I’m not “in shape” either. I’m slowly working my way towards breaking PRs again. To be honest, I haven’t felt the greatest lately either. My stomach has been off for a few weeks, and my legs haven’t felt “in shape”. I’m injury free so I can’t complain about that.
Total mileage:
Paces: 5:53-11:40-untimed
Shortest run: 2 mile cool down
Longest run: 17.75-mile run
Total workouts: 1
Races:
RnR Virginia Beach (1:29.46)
Flying Fish 5k (19:35)
RnR Philadelphia (1:27.37)
Rotary 5k (19:41)
Maple Shade Soccer 5kish (3.3 miles) 19:36
Favorite Race:
Honestly, I actually enjoyed each race, and none were any better or worse for me.
RnR Virginia Beach showed me I was in better shape than I thought…
Flying Fish 5k showed me I could power through extreme heat…
RnR Philadelphia showed me I could power through extreme heat and that my endurance was higher than anticipated.
Finally, my last two 5ks showed I am in better shape than this time last year as I ran both in 30-90 seconds faster.
So to say it was my best month post injury is an underestimate. I’m happy with how my training went last month and I could not have asked for a better month.
October?
But now I’m at cross roads of where I want to go. I’ve debated training for a marathon later in the winter. Do I want to give up racing for longer distances? I’m not sure. While I’ve only run two marathons, I haven’t had one I’m satisfied with. October’s training will definitely determine whether I’ll go for the 26.2 or stay at shorter distances.
Well the good thing is there is no wrong answer. I don’t think there is any reason why you should give up racing to train for a marathon. Just use races as your workouts and don’t expect a PR every time or run before hand and use it as a fast finish long run. Anything that works to keep the miles on miles of training boredom away is a great thing!
Based on how well you did in that race after an 18 mile training run, I don’t think you should give up racing for training for a marathon. I’ve seen a lot of training plans, like Pfitzinger’s, that build racing into the training. Plus a lot of very speedy running bloggers like Kris and Tia Stone race a lot while marathon training. Everyone is different but I say give it a shot and see how it works for you and go from there.
I ran Virginia Beach as well!! Dang Just missed you!!
That looks like a stellar September to me. Well done and congrats. October is going to be even better I would bet.
Excited for you to build on this momentum! It’s weird not being in the running-specialty world now that we’re entering marathon season. The NYCM will still be a big deal at work, but just in a different way. Have you researched any marathons yet or just thinking about it?
Sounds like clearly you ARE in good shape! What an amazing month of racing after coming off an injury. You’re doing such great work and I think even better things are in store.