Hi everyone! It’s been a minute since I have said anything about my running post marathon. Nothing too exciting has been going on, still just being consistent and putting in the time and work! Here is a little synopsis of what has been going on running-wise lately though!

Mileage

Today is July 24th, and I am officially 8 weeks post marathon. And I’m ready to get back out there. The last 2.5 years I have been training pretty consistently – almost always with a race on the calendar. You can see more of my race history here if you care to know 🙂 My latest marathon I was originally shooting for a 3:20 – but fell off that goal at mile 2! Why so early, you ask? Because I wasn’t feeling it and I ultimately just wanted to enjoy myself. I was tired. Tired of the constant grind of training. I was in my hometown and wanted to appreciate my surroundings and made a goal to be smiling at the end of the race….and that’s EXACTLY what I did!

Over the last 5 weeks, I have been gradually increasing my milage, just a few miles at a time. I usually thrive with a pretty low weekly total (although this is totally relative!) of 30-35 miles. All of my runs up until 1 week ago have been at an easy effort, which for me has been really fun actually. After being consumed for the last 30-ish months with steady workouts, being unstructured has been really….freeing? As my miles are increasing, I will be adding in a few speed workouts a week – nothing too strenuous. I did 6 x 20 seconds strides a few days ago and those felt great. The plan is to keep the interval work relatively short, especially in this obscene Arizona summer! Wowza.

Strength training

I have been incorporating strength training into my regular routine, going to the gym once a week. I also lift at home but don’t have a whole lot of equipment so the gym is a much better resource for me personally. Lifting weights has always been a struggle for me, but I have been pretty consistent with it and have actually been enjoying it! Since implementing this in my training, I’ve already noticed a difference in the amount of weight I can lift. This actually makes me really proud because I’ve always thought of myself as sort of weak.

Goals

In the next 6 months, I want to increase my strength and keep my mileage relatively stable while incorporating more speed workouts. I’m going to get a gym membership (I’ve just been tagging along with a friend!) to hold myself more accountable to this. Currently, I am coaching myself so I want to get a coaching certification to expand my knowledge. Not only to help myself…but to help others, too!

I want to step out of my comfort zone more….it’s been approximately forever since I have ran a 5K so I’m toying with that idea. Am I the only one that would rather run a marathon than a 5K!? The burn is horrific in the 5K – but, again, outside of the comfort zone!

Thank you so much for reading, I love having you all here and sharing my journey with you.

XO Trish