Miles Sweet Miles

warmup miles along Peoria's riverfront

I ran 18 miles on Saturday and then was too exhausted to write about it. Sometimes the recovery part of marathon training is more consuming than the actual running time. I run like crazy... and then kinda float through the rest of the day. My mind is always flying a million miles an hour, but my body can't keep up.

This past weekend's long run was a good one with my friend Anna. She's a bit faster than me, so it's a gentle push - one that I need.  We took a different route than the norm... more hills than I would usually put in an 18 miler. But it was fun to explore and discover a new loop (one that I will surely repeat). Several of the hills were killer and had me sucking air and praying for strength. Thankfully, the pace was more comfortable for Anna... so she carried the conversation and talked me up the hills. She's like my own personal coach - that I don't pay. Score.

Me and Anna - Can you see the hill behind us?

I barely glanced at my pace the whole run - just focused on keeping it at a comfortable pace (For me, that means I can hold a conversation - sans hills). Anna and I split at mile 14, so I really had to dig deep to push myself in the last miles. The RLRF training plan dictated my goal pace at 10:29 for this long run. I was so thrilled when I finished to see I was spot on. 18 miles in 3:08:46 (10:29 pace). Practically impossible to hit on the head, even if I tried. The pace wasn't consistent with the variance of hills, but I'll take the average any day.

Unlike my recent long runs, I was S.O.R.E. the next day. Shoot, by evening I could feel my legs stiffening up. No doubt, hills give me a different kind of workout. I listened to my body scream and gave it an extra rest day (two days off running).

Little Rock Marathon is now just 19 days away. I've started to study the course... and it's definitely not flat. To give Little Rock some extra prep, today I added more hills into my long tempo run. The more I run those monsters, the less they hurt (or the better I get!?). I didn't hit any rocket paces, but I was really happy with my splits and how strong my legs felt storming up the elevation. 8.45 miles in 1:19 (9:22 pace). For the middle four miles, I hit a consistent 8:4X pace... on hills! I was so happy with the results and more importantly, how it felt. This week is my peak before I begin a small taper for Little Rock (March 3). Then I'll pump it back up in prep for Eugene on April 28.

It consumes my mind. It rattles my body. It steals a ton of time... but I LOVE marathon training!!! There is nothing better than feeling yourself getting stronger, week by week.

How's your training going?
Do you seek out hills - or avoid them?
Are you running Little Rock? I'm trying to gather names so we can plan a meetup!

Don't forget...

• To sign up for the 3rd annual Jelly Bean virtual race here.

• To enter the StrideBox giveaway here.