Running Progress Report for July 2013

So, another month has flown by, and so its time for another monthly progress report.

Why am I doing a monthly running progress report?  Well, at the beginning of the year, I set 3 specific goals for myself; and these reports help me to stay on track to accomplishing my goals. The 3 goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the year are:

• Goal 1: Lose 15 Pounds
• Goal 2: Set Personal Records in the 1 mile, 5k, 10k, and half marathon distances
• Goal 3: Place 1st or 2nd in my age group during any race

So, in addition to discussing how my progress is going for these goals; I also want to cover in general what I have been doing with my training.

I can say that the past few weeks, I’ve run more miles than I have ever run in my life.  Even though I didn’t set a goal to complete a marathon at the beginning of the year, I decided a couple of months ago that I was going to run the Leavenworth Marathon.

As a result, I’ve really ramped up the amount of miles that I’ve been running…and I feel like this is going to get me much closer to accomplishing all my other goals (of losing weight, setting PRs, etc).

Goal 1 – Lose 15 Pounds

To be honest, I don’t know if this one is going to happen.  I am definitely getting closer, but I’m already in great shape, and as you’ll see below, already running alot of miles.  I only have a few pounds to go, but I don’t know if I’m going to make it.

I started the year at 142 pounds, and I’m currently hovering around the 134 pound mark.  So, I still have about 7 pounds to go.

I did have a few days where I dropped into the 131 range…these were all days after long runs!

Here is a chart of my weight for most of July and August so far:

You can see that at least comparing all the “valleys”, the weight is slowly going down.  The low point correlate pretty well with when I am doing my longest run of the week.  As I will show below, I have been running A LOT of miles…and still I am not hitting my weight goal.  I think I may have set an unrealistic goal…as I don’t think hitting 127 lbs. is feasible without starving myself. (I would starve without ice cream and brownies, right?)

Goal 2: Set Personal Records in the 1 mile, 5k, 10k, and half marathon distances

I didn’t run any races in July; however, I have been training harder than ever before!

I am running a 10k race this weekend (August 17th), and will be running a half marathon on September 2nd.  I fully expect to set PRs in both those races.  In fact, I would be pretty shocked and disappointed if I didn’t.

Why am I so confident that I am going to do well in my upcoming races?

Because I have been working so hard.  Take a look at the miles I have been running in July and August so far:

• Week ending July 6th – 19.5 miles (okay I took most of this week off and traveling)
• Week ending July 13th – 38.3 miles (Still nothing stellar, but just a step up to get the ball rolling again)
• Week ending July 20th – 68 miles (Highest mileage week or my life!)
• Week ending July 27th – 66 miles
• Week ending August 3rd – 67 miles
• Week ending August 10th – 62 miles

So, in the past 4 weeks, I’ve run 263 miles!

How does this compare to my marathon training for last year?  Well, I thought I worked hard last year for the Leavenworth Marathon, but my highest mileage week last year was 60 miles.  And I only had one or 2 other weeks that were at 50.  Most weeks, I was running between 40 to 49 miles.

So, right now I’m feeling like I should do very well in a 10k and half marathon.  The 10k this weekend is really just a “tune-up race” to see where I’m at.  But I’m going to shoot for 45 minutes, which is about a minute and a half faster than I ran in March of this year.

The half-marathon coming up on September 2nd is going to be the real test; so I’ll be shooting for around 1:37:00, which is about 3 minutes faster than my previous PR.

And even though I didn’t set a goal to set a PR in a full-marathon at the beginning of the year, that is most definitely one of my goals now.  All of the miles I’ve been putting in are designed for me to run my fastest full Marathon on October 5th, 2013.  Its coming up quick, but I feel like I am in a good position to finally break 3 hours and 30 minutes for the marathon.

Goal 3: Place 1st or 2nd in my age group during any race

Again, because I haven’t run any races this month…it didn’t happen.  I think my next chance to place in my age group might be at the Leavenworth Marathon, but 1st or 2nd is still a stretch.  So, we’ll see.

Overall, the month of July has been a real solid running month for me.   I’ve run more miles than I’ve ever run in my life, and my weight is slowly inching down.

I feel like I’m in pretty good shape, but I can also tell that the miles are wearing me down a bit.  Who knew it was difficult to run 60+ miles for 4 weeks in a row?!  So yes, my legs do feel fatigue before I even start some of my runs; however, I also know that I’m not overdoing it yet.

With some nice tapering and a rest day or 2, I know that I’ll be in top shape for my half marathon and full marathon that are coming in a few weeks.  Bring it on!

This weekend I will be running the Railroad Days 10k race in Snoqualmie, WA with a couple of my friends (including Stephen).  It should be a lot of fun, and I’ll be sure to post my race results here the following week.

If you have any comments or questions about my training or anything else, let me know in the comments section below!