A Week of Running Surprises


The past week was full of surprises, from headphone headaches to procuring personal bests. 

Headphones

I received my new earbuds. They seemed to work well the first two days; then, one earbud did not pair. When I attempted to re-pair the earbuds, something was oozing out of the earbud or charger. Since then, I have received a replacement, and it works better so far. Maybe I had a dud.

Garmin Running Badges

This year, Garmin has been awarding quarterly badges for running 300 km (186.5 mi.) They also have an Ultimate Running 2023 Badge for completing all quarterly challenges. I earned both only 27 days into the fourth quarter. I was so surprised that I achieved this badge so quickly.

Monthly Mileage PR and Counting

Considering I earned the quarterly running badge, it is no surprise that I was near a monthly mileage PR. With two days left in October, I have completed 215 miles. I am on track to surpass 225 miles by the end of the month. My previous PR was 208 miles in March 2023.

Progress on the CIM Challenge

CIM is teamed up with Runkeeper and offering the 40 in 40 Challenge, where participants are to log 40 hours of GPS-tracked running from October 19 - November 27. I am not one to be at the top of a speed-based leaderboard, but I have been in the top 3 for this challenge. 

10-Mile Pace Run

Marathon pacing has been a recurring theme on this blog. On Friday, I had the longest pace run of this training block. I was surprised I averaged 9:08/mi. This workout gave me confidence that 9:20/mi. might be possible.

20-Mile Long Run

This 20-mile long run surprised me as well. I was going into it with tired legs from the previous pace run. I kept my heart rate in zone 2, averaging 10:19/mi. The cooler temperatures helped me finish this run faster than the prescribed 10:30/mi. pace. This was my best 20-mile run ever. I have only run 20 miles faster during the Mountains2Beach marathon in May 2023.

Overall, I am feeling good about my 56-mile training week. This week is a cut-back week with about 39 miles. Then, I will make one more push and be in the three-week taper.

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