This past Saturday I finally hit the 13.1 mile mark in my training. It felt like it has taken forever to get to this point. It's actually been 3.5 months of training.
I'm super happy to see actual progress. Three months ago I couldn't imagine running 8 miles all at one time. That would have crushed me. Now, after my 13 mile run, I relaxed for a few hours then took the kids to a fair. Sure, I wanted to just keep laying down the rest of the evening. But I did fine. And I did that while having sinus congestion.
Seeing real progress gives me a little boost in confidence the will to keep on training like I have been - because I know the plan is working.
My typical training week has looked like this:
Saturday: Long run
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Strength training or stretching
Tuesday: Speed intervals
Wednesday: Strength training
Thursday: A 5-6 mile fast pace run and good stretch
Friday: Yoga or just light stretching depending on how I feel
I think what really clicked for me is my speed training. Learning what fast looks and feels like is important if I really want to get my times down. It's probably the hardest training day of the week, but I think that's why it works.