So far, so good.
I’m now two weeks (14 days) into my attempt to run in miles the day of the month. Physically, I still feel solid. My legs aren’t too sore yet. I’m focusing on eating enough (even during my runs) and sleeping about 9 hours per night. I also just started switching between my normal easy pace and a “recovery pace” on alternating days. I decided to cut back my easy pace by 20% to help manage the quickly escalating mileage. I added this in on day 12 before I felt like I needed to. My goal with this challenge is to exit the month stronger with better endurance rather than to completely bury myself.
My easy pace has held steady in the 9:30-9:42 range to begin the month. I’m running roads with rolling hills and about 85 feet of elevation gain/loss per mile. Last year I was running this same route about 30 seconds/mile quicker so it looks like I’ve lost a bit of fitness/endurance by racing as much as I have recently. I’m interested to see how long I can maintain my easy pace every other day. Once it starts creeping up, I’ll dial back my recovery pace and take things even easier. I’m also planning to cut back my easy and recovery paces if things start feeling off. Fingers crossed that won’t be necessary.
Mentally, I’m holding up pretty well, too. I’m trying not to think about the mileage too much though. After 14 days, I’m only 108 miles into a 500 mile month. Pondering the 392 miles I have left is . . . not helpful. The trick is to take things one day at a time. Tomorrow is 15 miles. That’s very doable.
Let’s GO!