Time to start logging some miles.

With a goal in sight, my training quickly ramped up to approximately 60 miles per week over the course of a month. 30, 40, 52, 61; as my mileage inched up, I anticipated that my body would go into shock or at least manifest some sort of injury, but it appears I made the jump unscathed. How was I able to manage such a feat you may ask? Easy runs... Really easy.

2 to 3 days a week, my training runs would be up to 3 minutes slower than my anticipated race pace. These long slow runs allowed me to continue to develop my cardiovascular strength without devastating my legs. This may seem like commonsense to many runners, but as a young and ambitious college runner, it seemed the faster and longer you ran, the better one was able to perform. By logging long slow miles, my legs were fresh for workouts and tempo runs. I find it very difficult to run at an 8 minute pace by myself; I needed to find a group to run with.

In an effort to get connected with the running community here in DC, I have been doing group runs on Monday nights with Lululemon on P st. NW by Logan Circle and another group run with Potomac Runners Group on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I have been going to the group runs for about 6 weeks now and have already made several great friends.

The time and miles seem to fly by during these group runs. It seems we all find that this time together is an opportunity to escape the stress of our jobs and just enjoy some free time with other runners. By the time I get home after any given group run, I already find myself looking forward to the next encounter. I strongly encourage all runners to try group training, for myself, it makes the miles easier and certainly more enjoyable.