Increasing the Distance

After starting to run again in January, I finally decided today that it'd be a good idea to alter my running goals. My previous goal focused on running 3-5 times each week, primarily as a means to decrease and regulate my weight. The first several months were a definite struggle, but in the last month or so I've felt my body relax back into running. I'm able to now regulate my breathing and switch up my stride as needed in order to push myself farther and/or longer. Thus rather than just focus on getting myself out there in my running shoes, I'm going to now focus more on increasing my mileage. Initially these thoughts stemmed from a conversation I had with a woman in my neighborhood about two weeks back. She had stopped me in my backyard to ask about my running technique and how long I'd been at it, as she has been hoping to slide into an easier groove like the one I have reached.  It was incredibly nice to just chat with someone over a similar interest, and her questions influenced me to begin to think about how to increase my running distance.

However, as much as I want to increase distance, I also don't want to take the fun out of it all!  The hub and I had measured some neighborhood routes in January. Most of them that I have been running equate to 1.5 to 3 miles, with my most regular two running routes being about 1.5-2 miles. Although when I run on the treadmill (which may be more common during coming hot summer months) I'm averaging slightly over 3 miles (although I never think treadmill running is equal to nor as difficult as running terrain outside). However my apparent motivation with running appears to be the desire to achieve my goal, which up til now has just been 3-5 times a week (equal to 4.5-8 miles a week).  When I started to calculate how far I've run in six months.....well I was less than impressed.  I definitely have the capacity to go farther and push myself more (although probably not too far over an average run of 3-4 miles as even when I ran cross country that was a good day for me). Yet I usually choose not to do more because there's nothing motivating me to go the extra mile--literally! 

Interestingly side notes: I've discovered that I run much better without music & headphones and so for the last two months I have been running mainly just focusing on my breathing, my surroundings, and processing my thoughts from the days activities. Ironically, I also still run best in the middle of the afternoon---something that seems to be ingrained in me from high school practice times, which were always held directly after school. 

So my new goal will be for me to run 7-10 miles a week, in whatever form that entails. I figure this increases my range by about 2 miles on either side, which makes for a good push for the coming month or so until I see how it all pans out. I also recognize that I could choose to run at least twice a week at 3.5 miles or I could run 5 days in a week at 1.5 miles and still make it in my goal range for that week. I like that it still allows for flexibility, while pushing my competitive side to up the ante slightly. 

We'll see how it goes---but always good to readjust those goals!