Phase 2 Underway

This week marks the start of the 2nd phase of my marathon training for Fargo in May. The 1st phase was primarily just a base training phase, building miles and increasing the endurance. This 2nd phase brings in more marathon pace workouts and hill and interval workouts as well as continuing to increase my longer runs and my overall mileage. Today I ran my first real tempo workout (not counting the Fartlek workouts I've done weekly) and considering I ran most of the tempo pace head-on into a pretty tough chilly wind, the pacing felt good and I felt strong. I didn't push too hard but I know I put in a good effort with the legs definitely feeling a little sore right now.

What will be really interesting will be my 5K road race coming up this weekend. I'll be racing an outdoor 5K in White Bear Lake Saturday morning. It'll simply be a test to see where I'm at. I plan to push myself pretty hard but a February 5K outside can be pretty unpredictable with weather and road conditions. I'm excited to just get out and compete though, it feels like it's been too long.

If all goes well on Saturday, my next race will be the Human Race on March 22nd in St. Paul. I'm planning to run the doubleheader there (5K then 8K). After that, it's a little open but I'm looking at this for a schedule: April 4th: Bunker Hills 8K in Coon Rapids, April 25th: Get in Gear Half-Marathon in Minneapolis, and May 9th: Fargo Marathon.