3.15.2018

February recap and some advice

Wow, I feel like I blinked and February and almost half of March is already in the rear view mirror! What the heck time, you  keep moving so fast! Training wise February was decent but it was no January!  I think that in January I was really on my game and this past month I just kind of lost my umpf! I ran 70 miles each month but January just felt stronger. I have to attribute that to my Coach Rachel for hosting a fitness challenge that I participated in. In February, I did my own thing and that didn't really seem to work out as great for me. To be clear, Rachel hosted a February challenge too but I kind of missed it all. I also made it a point to get in miles pretty much every single day of the month. So I'm going to go back to what I know will work for the rest of this month! 

Coach Rachel is awesome, shes one of my fellow ambassadors for the Cleveland Marathon and has been so patient with me. It turns out that if you have run a few races, you kind of have your own training plan in mind and don't always check in and follow the actual plan. This too, I'll get better at!

I was asked lately week to give some advice to a beginner runner and after, I thought maybe someone else out there reading this may find it helpful too. It took me a really long time to actually consider myself a real runner. I think I felt "worthy" of the title when I completed the whole 26.2 a few years back.  


But here are the most important things that help me with  my training 

1. A good support system- this is really, really important! When I started training for my first half marathon I had some amazing support people at work that made me feel like I could do it! Also, I joined some social media things that make you feel good about your progress and that you can post in. My favorite is Kelly Roberts. I have been following her for years and joined her new group this year on facebook "the #BadassLadyGang".


2. Sticking to some sort of loose plan- I'm totally not the type to have a schedule that I'm religious about. I know a lot of people do, but sometimes its my 3 mile day and I feel like doing 4 and sometimes I only want to do 2, so I kind of do what I want while making sure I aim for the total mileage goal for the week.


3.Upping the mileage on the long runs- When I trained for the full, it was just about getting the miles in, no matter how long it took. Even if takes longer than anticipated, you will gain so much confidence that you can actually do the mileage and this is priceless!


4.Take walk breaks- I still do this on most of my runs!  Very rarely have I run an entire race. I know that its not the best plan for a timed race, but I really just listen to what is working for me.


5. Always remember that a mile is a mile, no matter how long it takes. A lot of people (myself included) really discredit themselves because they aren't running at whatever pace they think they should be at. But, shes still doing it and that's so much better than nothing!


Are you signed up for Cleveland yet? You can sign up here! 
You can use the offer code MBCLE10 for an extra 10% off! There are so many distance options to choose from! the whole 26.2, 13.1, 10K, 8k, 5k and kids fun run!  Hope to see you there!

If you like what you see here, you can follow along with my adventures on Instagram too! Make it a great week guys!