April: Keeping the 100+ miles per month streak alive

Posted on by Vanessa Junkin (She Runs by the Seashore)
I ran 104.69 miles in April and posed in front of Schumaker Pond for a photo to celebrate this achievement.

I’ve surpassed the 1,200-mile mark during two calendar years — 2016 and 2018. But even though that means I averaged more than 100 miles per month, I’ve never had a year where I logged more than 100 miles in every month.

So far, I’m on track to do so for 2019. I didn’t make this one of my official goals, but I do think it would be a fun accomplishment.

  1. I ran 104.69 miles in April. Despite six full rest days after running the Salisbury Marathon — which I think are an important part of training — I was happy to surpass the 100-mile mark for April.
  2. I ran three races. One was the Salisbury Marathon, which I trained for during four months, and the other two were half marathons that I paced — the Coastal Delaware Running Festival Half Marathon and the Island to Island Half Marathon in Ocean City.
  3. I started training with Endure Strong. I was provided with this opportunity through BibRave and started running with an Endure Strong training plan toward the end of the month. Read more here.
  4. I tried my hand at running a single mile fast. I think it’s fun to test my speed sometimes to see where I am and compare to previous months. I tried to run a fast 5K, but once I saw an 8:09 mile without the effort I knew I would have needed at that pace, I knew something was off with the GPS. It turned out that day, I only ran about 2.8 miles. However, not long after, I tried to run a fast mile and finished that in 8:59 (I checked the GPS, which seemed more accurate). I’m looking to lower this as I try to improve my speed for racing — and I’d like to run an 8-something pace at the eRace the Stigma 5K on May 11, too.
  5. I ran at the Assawoman Wildlife Area. I’m running at one or more new places per month in 2019, and during April, I ran at the Assawoman Wildlife Area.
  6. I didn’t go to the gym or do any yoga. I probably shouldn’t have signed up for a gym membership, but I’m hoping to go some during May and actually work on my strength training, which is listed as an optional exercise in my Endure Strong plan.

Overall, it was a good month. I was pleased with my marathon performance and it was exciting to get started training with a coach and online team. I also was able to pace both races successfully and had fun at both of those.

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