With 3 days (of running) remaining, I’m already at 104 miles. My previous high month was set last year, in prep for the half-marathon; a measly 78. With the few days that remain, I’ll be hitting ~115. Not too shabby considering I’ve only run ~50 for the past three months (34, 44, 59, 37, 25, 30, 17, 48, 49, 49 since the half).

My biking mileage has suffered greatly, but what can ya do? I have a day of cross-training built in to my schedule, but it is supposed to be somewhat easy for 30-60 minutes… The only bike ride I enjoy doing is 17 miles, which takes a bit over an hour at a good pace… I’ve instead started swimming. Maybe triathlons are in my future?

Anyway, I expected this great increase to be pretty tough on my legs, but aside from a few aches that seem to work themselves out after a mile or so, I’ve got nothing out of the ordinary going on.

Overall, training has gone very well. I haven’t been able to really test myself in a race since I go in to each one feeling a bit tired already, but just looking at my legs and body, I can tell I’m getting much stronger (why my weight isn’t decreasing). One thing I do think I need to do though, is eat better. I’ve been doing quite well when I’m at home, but I go out far too often for my liking.

Next up? There is a mile track race this Wednesday that I’m contemplating, and there is a 5k on August 5th, which is the first race I ran [two years ago] when I started to get back in to running… I hope to improve upon my 21:58

August and July are both ~160 milers. I’ve bought two pairs of shoes so hopefully I’ll get some more mileage out of each, but sheesh! Some folks run 100 miles in a week! That must get expensive…

As these long runs get longer (I’m only at 12 right now, but will be doing 20 twice), I plan on doing some destination runs… Maybe fly to some random city for a weekend, get my ridiculous mileage in, see the sights, and come home. There is only so much Rock Creek Park and C&O Canal I can handle!