2013 turned out to be a new personal best for miles run in a year – 3,235. I don’t really set a goal for annual mileage, but it’s always nice to hit the 3,000 mark with a few weeks to spare. I’m hoping for more of the same in 2014. Here’s how it kicked off…
Monday: Decided to put my last vacation day of the year to good use and log some decent miles. The weather was just about perfect for a long run and I ended up with 31 miles at just under 7:30 pace. Aside from some left groin tightness in the closing miles, this was a great confidence booster coming so soon after the Seashore Nature Trail 50K.
Tuesday: Closed out 2013 with a leisurely leave-the-GPS-at-home 10 miler.
Wednesday: Just the one run again today, which ended up being an easy/steady effort – approximately 45 minutes cruising in the easy zone, with the last 45 minutes at or around 150bpm.
Thursday: Back to work today, so just ran an easy five miler on tired legs in the morning, with another seven miles midday. Managed to close out the seven miler pretty quickly and finished off with some GRID and R8 Recovery rolling.
Friday: Didn’t fancy braving the elements this morning, so opted for five miles of mixed elevation and pace on the treadmill. I should probably incorporate at least one of these workouts into my training on a regular basis – definitely worked different muscles and the lungs got a good workout too. Also logged another seven midday miles, which were probably the windiest miles I’ve run since the 2012 Wicked 10K.
Saturday: Headed to the Noland Trail in Newport News for a change of scenery and to meet up with fellow Ultra runner Brian Burk who was planning to run 50 miles in preparation for the Umstead 100 (his first 100 Miler) in a few months time. The meetup didn’t exactly work out – Sorry, Brian – but I did manage to run 4 x 5 mile loops around the lake on a bitterly cold morning. Not my fastest 20 miler ever, but with the constant up and down and the many twists and turns, it was a solid run that left me pretty fatigued.
Sunday: With 98 miles for the week already in the bank, I wasn’t really sure what to run today. In the end I headed out the door with a “Let’s see what happens” mentality. The first four miles were very much in the recovery zone, but with the legs feeling good, I decided to head down to the Oceanfront and back, running 1 mile on/1 mile off. Overall pace for the 20 miles was just under 7:00/mile, with 8 of the miles probably in the 6:30/mile range.
As you can see in the pic below, I overdressed somewhat for the Sunday run. Temps were in the low 40s when I started, but climbed to the low 60s by the time I was finished. Way too hot for tights and a long sleeve!
