The Grind

I haven't updated the blog in a while, as their hasn't been many details to report. I've just been grinding out the work. I'm pleased with the consistency I've shown the past several weeks. I've average about 45 mpw the last 12 weeks and a little over 50 mpw over the last 8 weeks. I've also been able to get in two strength training workouts a week, which I plan to continue through October.

I've been feeling good (relatively) and I've been slowly increasing my mileage to about 60 mpw over the past 3-4 weeks. I'm trying to increase the distance of my long run every other week and I hope to hit my first 20-mile run sometime around the end of October or early November.

I've been getting in 1 or 2 quality workouts each week, but yesterday I did my first "long" quality workout. After my standard 2-mile warm up, I did 2 x 3.25-miles w/5 min rest. My goal was to run each rep between 86-88% of my max heart rate. Thanks to the wonderful weather, I was able to run my first rep in 22:46 at an average HR% of 87% and my second rep in 22:41 at an average HR% of 86%. I was pleased that I was able to average 7 min/mile for both reps. I finished with a 4-mile cool down, to give me 12.5-miles for the workout.