Maintaining Mileage

In the last month my mileage has really tapered off. I don't know quite what it is, but it's becoming really difficult to get out of bed every morning and put in the work. Before the 15k on March 27 I was averaging about 30 miles per week. I was supplementing my training with a core strengthening video (Jillian Michaels' 6 Week 6 Pack) and I was feeling (and looking) pretty damn awesome!

In the last 4 weeks that has slipped dramatically. I've put about 10 pounds back on, I'm sluggish, my pace is suffering on my training runs, and my legs are aching in places they haven't before. During the month of April I averaged 10 miles per week. That is a disappointing decrease.

This past weekend I ran a fun run for my alumni association, The Big Apple Badgers. We were on the path in Riverside Park and it was a very informal event with about 50 people (which is almost twice the number that turned out last year, so good work Badgers!!). I was feeling weird about the race, I had a nagging pain in my right thigh all week, a tightness in my right ankle and a series of ankle exercises I'd done in class on Friday left the front of my shins tight and painful. Regardless, I lined up and lead the pack as we started through Riverside.

Stretching before the Crazylegs World 5K in Riverside Park. Photo by Lorah Haskins.

I lead by a healthy amount for most of the race. My endurance didn't last. I had to walk. Just before the halfway point the first person to pull ahead of me passed. Shortly after her there was a guy and another girl that pulled in front. At about mile 2.5 another girl passed me and for some reason I was unwilling to accept 5th place. 4th place is fine, there was no way I was going to catch the first three people to pass me, but this girl was not going to beat me. So I picked up the pace, ignored the burning in my shins and barreled through to the finish.

Prior to the race I had set a goal of averaging with a pace of less than 8 minutes per mile. Our course wasn't exactly 5k, it turned out to be about 2.98 miles. I ended up finishing in 23:50, which is a pace of 7:598657 minutes per mile. Just barely attaining my goal by clawing my way back from what had the potential to be a horrible race.

Now I have to claw my way back into the 30 miles per week range after slipping by almost 80 miles last month. I'm optimistic, I'm going to be smart about it and I'm never going to let myself have a 5k be that difficult ever again.

Lesson to be learned from the Crazylegs World 5k: Don't get cocky about your training, keep your mileage up.

"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character." - T. Alan Armstrong