Week 6 and 2017 Goal Updates

I've successfully made it through the first 6 weeks of my marathon training program which means my race is 12 weeks away. Every few weeks my training program includes a recovery week (that pretty much just means my long run on the weekend isn't quite as long) and I was grateful that this was one of those weeks. Next week is a big one as my Monday/Thursday runs increase from 3 to 4 miles and my Tuesday run increases from 6 to 7. In addition, my long run next Saturday jumps up to 14 miles which, if I finish it, will be the farthest I have ever run...in my entire life.

Training has been going very well so far, but there has been something bothering me from time to time that is completely mental. Since I picked back up running 3 years ago, I had always seen drastic year over year improvements in my speed. This year, however, I am running at a similar pace as I was last year. Now there is no doubt in my mind that I am in much better shape then I was a year ago, but I am training a lot differently. I'm not a very competitive person, but I do tend to compete with myself quite a bit. I have had to remind myself often that I am working on tackling the marathon distance and not working on improving my speed right now. With the number of miles that I am running each week, it is imperative that I don't push many of my runs too hard otherwise I will be lining myself up for an injury.

The nice thing about using Garmin Connect to track all of my training is that their website provides a way to easily run reports. I decided to see how I was doing on some of my 2017 goals.

523.49 of 2,500 mile cycling goal

11.82 of 75 mile swimming goal

32 of 150 Strength Training Sessions

I'm doing very well with my cycling goal as well as strength training. Swimming is falling a bit behind but that was expected due to the lack of open water swimming opportunities during the winter. Once I can hit the open water, that mileage should pile up pretty quickly. 

The last goal that I had was a joint goal with Erin. We are planning to run 2017 miles in 2017 and we are both on track to split that number in half (1,008.5 miles a piece). 

225.7 of 1,008.5 mile running goal

Lastly, I thought I would mention that Erin has signed up to run the Dam To Dam half marathon on the first weekend of June. I think my favorite quote from her when deciding whether or not to race was "If I'm doing all of this running anyways, I might as well run a couple of races." This coming from the woman who swore last fall that running a half marathon was a 1 time deal. Mark my words, there will be a marathon in her future yet.