She Runs by the Seashore

Follow @vanessajunkin

We may be nearly halfway through April, but I’m still determined to keep up my monthly wrap-ups, so here goes…

1. I ran 123.5 miles. This is a great monthly mileage for me and it was my highest monthly mileage of 2018 so far. Clearly, my marathon training for the Vermont City Marathon had an impact. Even though I had less than 100 miles in January, the March total got me back up past 300 for the year, which helps put me pretty much on track for my goal of 2,018 kilometers (just over 1,250 miles) in 2018.
2. I ran two races. These were the United Airlines Rock ‘n’ Roll Washington DC Half Marathon, which I ran for BibRave, and the Tim Kennard River Run 10-Miler. Both races went well, and I was glad to notch a time well under 10-minute miles at Tim Kennard, which was my first flat course of the year.
3. I started doing some Yasso 800s. Inspired by Bart Yasso’s “Race Everything,” a friend and the knowledge that I really need to do some speed work to get faster, I did some Yasso 800s. On March 16, I ran four, ranging between 4:24-4:29, and on March 29, I did six, ranging from 4:23-4:39. I’m planning to work up to 10 before the Vermont City Marathon and see how accurate the estimate turns out to be. I’d like to run a faster marathon at VCM than I did at Richmond, so maybe I can plan to stick with the 4:45 group (I ran 4:47:52 there). If I can do the 10 Yasso 800s in about 4 minutes and 45 seconds each, I should (hopefully) be good.
4. I also did some long runs. I altered the long run training plan I’m following a little bit because I didn’t want to add mileage the day of the Tim Kennard, but during March, in addition to the two races, I ran two 16-milers.
5. I started freelancing for RunWashington. This one I’m really excited about! I wrote my first article for the website in March, which actually turned into two stories about the Rock ‘n’ Roll Washington DC elite races. Read the story on the full marathon here and the half marathon here. Stay tuned to RunWashington to keep seeing my byline on the website!
6. I went to the gym three times. This may not sound like a lot, but it was my most times going to the gym in a month this year. I hope to improve this number, but I’m glad I made it there at least three times. I went to Body Pump twice and a pilates class once when I had the day off for Good Friday.
7. I went to yoga once. I need to get back on track — I only went once during March!
8. I ran a fast 5K on my own. I ran a 5K distance on my own for speed after softball practice one day to see if running the Run for the Animals 10K in less than a 9-minute pace is a reasonable goal for me this year. I was able to run the 5K in 27:14 — an 8:46 average pace — which I was very pleased with given my recent running.

I’ll be participating in that aforementioned 10K this weekend, so stay tuned for my recap on that!

Like She Runs by the Seashore on Facebook here.