Last Tuesday I posted about my frustration with pace on recent tempo runs. Well, today everything finally felt right. I would always prefer my tempo runs to be around goal marathon pace (7:26), and today I completed 12.25 miles with an overall average pace of….7:26….and it felt smooth and under control the whole time. This average included two slower miles at the start as I was still warming up (8:51, 8:10). After mile 4, every mile was well under goal pace, with 2 miles under 7:00.
When I finished I easily felt like I could have gone further and faster. This is the best I have felt on a run in quite a while, and it is a HUGE confidence boost heading into NOLA. It didn’t hurt that the temps were in the low 60s, but I’ll take it!
Beast Mode….ON!
January Recap
Even though I had a bad cold that has now turned into a sinus infection (yuck), and have struggled with Small Fiber Sensory Neuropathy symptoms for the past couple of weeks, I only missed two scheduled training runs and finished January with my most mileage ever for a single month – 210. I did have a bit of a lull in the middle of the month where runs were more of a struggle, but over the past week or so things have really been coming together.
February will hold a few more challenges in NOLA training. I have a 22-miler scheduled for Saturday, followed by a tune-up half marathon the following weekend. Two weekends out from NOLA, I hope to complete my final long run of 24-miles before beginning my taper.