In class Monday I said to Bobbi “I’m hungry, and have no reason to be,” thinking about all the food I’d eaten the night before and breakfast I’d had, and she responded back “Yes you do! You’re training so much!”

Yes I am! Thank you for that reminder, Bobbi!

I’m struggling to figure out how much to eat after increasing my running last month to train for the marathon, while still lifting. Don’t worry – I’m well fueled! I’m just over here, trying to figure out hunger cues and how to fuel myself in my late 30s. I’m making very slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

But I’m not here to talk about that! I’m here to share a brief (??) recap of my March training.

March Stats:

Running
I had a solid running base going into marathon training – I was running 3-5 times a week, and doing a long run each week, anywhere from 10-15 miles. According to Garmin (I don’t track my mileage outside of Garmin for mental health reasons) I was running ~28 miles a week in February. In March I focused on increasing the long run distance, running 5 days a week, and adding a few miles to my weekly runs (they were 3-5 miles previously, in March I increased them to 3-8 miles).

It’s probably important to note I’m running the marathon for fun and don’t really give a sh*t what my finish time is. I did put in 5:00 for an estimated time when I registered, though. *shrugs*

Runs: 24 (10 w/Steven!)
Miles run in March: 174
Avg per week: ~37 miles (When I remembered, I’d look at my watch on Sunday to see how many miles I ran that week)
Long runs: 5 – 14m, 16m, 16m + 3m, 18m, 13.4m

Ha, that 16 + 3. I’m in NO place to be doing doubles, but that Friday before Steven left for work he asked if I wanted to run after work. I’d already planned to do my long run that morning so I cut it short and did it, plus an afternoon run. I felt good. Better than when he joined me the next week for the last 3 of my 18 miler, ha!

My long runs have all felt pretty good. I start them out listening to podcasts or a book then switch to music at the end to speed up.

Strength
I was taking strength classes 3-5 times a week leading up to March, and continued with that.

Strength: 19 classes:

Upper Body: 7
HIIT: 7
Lower Body: 5

I don’t want lower body to be the class I go to the least, that’s just how the gym schedule aligns with my office schedule – my office day is one of the lower body days so I usually only get to go to it once a week. Ya girl loves lower body day.

Rest & Recovery:

Massage
I get a massage every 3+ weeks and that aligned with getting one in March. I have two scheduled for April and one right before the marathon in May.

Sleep
I try to get 8 hours of good sleep a night. Key words: good & try.

Rest Day
I take a full rest day each week on my office day. All I do that day is walk to and from the office.

April!
April will be an interesting month – we’ll be gone for 10 days in Europe, during which my goal is to run once (a short run) in each of the three countries we’re visiting. I plan to run 19m and 20m for long runs before we go, then we’ll see what I feel like when I get back for running and class. Maybe I’ll be super awake in the mornings since we’ll be coming from the east and want to do all the early morning classes. Maybe I’ll be completely out of it for a few weeks (<— very likely). It’s a FAFO situation for sure!