March 2012 Training Summary
March 2012 has been yet another notable month for me in running for several reasons. For starters, the highlight of this month’s runs was, of course, the NYC Half ’12. But besides the race, what’s worth mentioning is my monthly mileage – 231.4 miles in March. Although this is just shy of 240 miles I planned to run monthly – I am still satisfied with what I’ve got thus far.
The reason I didn’t make my monthly mileage target is that I tapered before the NYC Half. In hindsight, that was probably not the best move. However, it did net me a shiny new PR. So there’s no reason to complain. Additionally, I could have gotten my 240 miles in March if I didn’t push back my long run on the last day of March – due to sickness and bad weather. Bad weather usually doesn’t stop me from running. However I decided it was probably not going to be productive to run 3~4 hours in the rain while recovering from a cold. Additionally, my next race, The New Jersey Marathon, will be on a Sunday. So swapping my long runs to Sunday makes sense.
Below is a comparison of training in the past two months:
| February 2012 | March 2012 | |
|---|---|---|
| Count | 19 | 24 |
| Distance | 188.48 mi | 231.42 mi |
| Avg Distance | 9.92 mi | 9.64 mi |
| Total Time | 28h 04m 13s | 33h 59m 18s |
| Avg Pace | 8m 56s per mile | 8m 49s per mile |
| Longest | 16 | 22 |
| Shortest | 5 | 2 |
Looking back in February’s training, I picked up a few seconds of average speed while adding about 40 miles in distance in March. And I was also able to get 2 runs over 20 miles even with 2 tapering weeks. One thing I’d like to point out is that I sprinkled a few doubles in March. This is something I haven’t done since the injuries at the end of last year. On the whole I think my body has been responding well to the stress from training without getting injured – I suspect this is largely due to the tapering.
Going forward, I am about to hit my mileage peak in the next two weeks as I approach my marathon in May. Yet I am still juggling options on how to approach the peak. The outline of my training is not set in stone. So, distance wise, I may toy around with the last two long runs and let my fitness level make the final decision. In terms of speedwork, I will mix in some new workouts that I have never done in the past – in hopes of shocking my body to recruit new muscle fibers. As we are now in the second quarter of 2012, I foresee April to be another productive month as I just opened this month’s training with a 26 mile long run. Below is some of the most memorable runs besides my race this month from my training log.
How did your running go in March 2012? Did you run a race or any special run? And what are your goals heading into Q2 of 2012? Please share in the comment section below.
Let’s be friends: