It's felt great to get back into running. I've logged around 50 miles since my last post, and I've been really surprised by how quickly by legs have adjusted. I started out expecting it to be a really, really, really long 1-2 months of building up mileage again. I've certainly stayed active, but nowhere near the level of endurance I had when I ran the Marine Corps Marathon or the Gar Williams Half around two years ago.
I remember building up to my first marathon in 2009, and I felt like a 9-mile training run was such an accomplishment. Every new feat from there on was incredible in my eyes. I was convinced that I ran 22 or 24 miles in my longest training run (I didn't have a GPS watch at the time). I ran for 3 hours and, in hindsight, I think I actually only ran about 18 miles or so. I came to that brutal realization during the 2009 Seattle Marathon. I felt great up until around miles 18-20, and then I completely fell apart. My first marathon took me 1 hour and 22 minutes longer than my longest run in preparation for that marathon. That's a big difference!
Fast forward to this last two weeks, and I threw down two 10-mile runs with very little effort. That's something that took me months to build up to before. Of course, I've run several other shorter runs over the last two weeks, but it's the 10-milers that made me really feel good about my running ability and my general level of fitness. Granted, I haven't been worrying about speed in the slightest. I plan to just log the miles for the first 1-2 months.
I'm still thinking about the timing for my first ultra, but the front-runner so far is the Whistler 50. I haven't registered yet, but I think I will soon!
Happy Running!
I remember building up to my first marathon in 2009, and I felt like a 9-mile training run was such an accomplishment. Every new feat from there on was incredible in my eyes. I was convinced that I ran 22 or 24 miles in my longest training run (I didn't have a GPS watch at the time). I ran for 3 hours and, in hindsight, I think I actually only ran about 18 miles or so. I came to that brutal realization during the 2009 Seattle Marathon. I felt great up until around miles 18-20, and then I completely fell apart. My first marathon took me 1 hour and 22 minutes longer than my longest run in preparation for that marathon. That's a big difference!
Fast forward to this last two weeks, and I threw down two 10-mile runs with very little effort. That's something that took me months to build up to before. Of course, I've run several other shorter runs over the last two weeks, but it's the 10-milers that made me really feel good about my running ability and my general level of fitness. Granted, I haven't been worrying about speed in the slightest. I plan to just log the miles for the first 1-2 months.
I'm still thinking about the timing for my first ultra, but the front-runner so far is the Whistler 50. I haven't registered yet, but I think I will soon!
Happy Running!
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