Month in Review: April 2013

Oh April 2013, what a roller coaster you've been!

I had a pretty busy month with races 3 out of 4 weekends and training for a half marathon. I've been logging everything on my MapMyRun account (friend me if you're on there- I'm mppvt08) and I love looking at my stats at the end of the month (or even weeks) and see all that I've accomplished.

Here are my stats for this month:

I am really proud of what I accomplished this month- I worked on my endurance as well as throwing in different kinds of runs in my training (ugh hills) so I could get my body ready for all the racing that I would do this month!

The first week of April was great in terms of staying active. I had 2 shorter runs and then the race on Saturday. I ran & walked a total of 28.19 miles the first week alone and I had my very first 8K on the first Saturday of the month.  I had a great race and had a PR (haha it was my first 8K after all!) and was rewarded with a great medal for the inaugural Gate City 8K! 

 The second week was a pretty good week but I took the mileage down a bit since I had a big 10K race on the second Saturday of the month.  I felt that cutting back some helped me stay on track for my race and I knew I wanted to PR big time since I wanted to use this race for my pacing requirements for my fall half marathons.  I ended up PR-ing in my 10K by nearly 30 minutes so I was ecstatic about my race and negative splits! I ended up with only about 18.2 miles on the week but I was totally fine with my race so all was good!

 
The third week was pretty difficult for me and definitely emotionally/mentally/physically taxing.  On Monday, April 15th, the blasts at the Boston Marathon occurred and I was literally numb once it hit me what happened. The next day was equally emotional because of what happened on April 16th at my school six years ago. I ran my own run for remembrance since I couldn't make it to Blacksburg the weekend beforehand because of my 10K. And that was it.  I was so emotionally drained and exhausted that I only managed about 7.06 miles total. The third weekend of the month was my off weekend of racing but it was for the best because I started my new job the following week and I wanted to stay healthy for my upcoming half marathon!
 

The last week of April started out strong. I did my last long run before my half marathon and it ended up being 14.18 miles!!! I was floored when I finished and finally saw my results! So exhausting but worth the great feeling in the end! The next day was hard though since I was super bloaty from drinking so much water the day of my long run so on my first day of work not only was I stuffed into work clothes feeling large and in charge but I was also fasting so I couldn't even re-fuel the next day like my usual practice! This last week was pretty good, run wise. I had two short 30 minute runs (even though the training plan I made for myself said I should've run 5 miles but whatevsies) on Wednesday and then Friday before I left for the beach.  I had my 5th half marathon on the 28th and I PR-ed by 20 minutes! I was hoping to PR by 30-40 minutes and I was on pace to do so but issues out of my control prevented that from happening. I ended up with 20.38 miles for the fourth week (not counting my half marathon since it was on Sunday and technically counts in this last half week of April).
 
The last half week of April includes only my half marathon of 13.12 miles.  I was hoping to get in a run today but I'm having some hip pain (I need to foam roll so bad) so that is postponed to be my first run of May!

The half marathon was the last big race for this racing season and I just have a few smaller 5Ks and 10Ks planned for the summer. I'm excited to work on some different things for my fall races (SPEED!) but I'm proud of what I have accomplished this month as well as this racing season.  My endurance (all thanks to Jeff Galloway's run-walk-run interval running), PR-ed in 3 different race distances, actually negative split-ed in 3 races, ran my furthest run ever, completed my 5th half marathon! I cannot wait for my  fall races (Detroit International Half Marathon & Danville Half Marathon for sure) and adding in a handful of races in the summer too! My goals for summer training: incorporate cross training and a variety of exercises (swimming, stationary bike, weight training/DVD exercises), work on speed (tempo, fartlek, interval runs), and have FUN! Sounds cheesy but I stress myself out so much for all my big races I sometimes forget that I am doing this for fun and for myself and no one else so why compare my racing to others?

How was your running this month? Any goals for May (or beyond)?