Locked on Target

This year just keeps speeding by, despite an extra day on the calendar. My pretraining plan remains a strong motivator to keep me getting out the door, but yesterday I added another catalyst to keep running.

I signed up for my first race of the year, the Dirty Dash, a 10-kilometer trail race. I've never run a race on trails, so I'm looking forward to the challenge. Hopefully, we get some dry weather between now and March 24. My goals for the race are to 1.) not fall, and 2.) finish with an overall pace under 11 minutes per mile.

Can you believe March is here? Here's last month's statistical rundown:

• Total Miles: 47 miles (13 runs)
• Total Time: 8.3 hours
• Highest Weekly: 15 miles
• Average Weekly: 11.75 miles
• Average Pace: 10:35/mile
• The Monthly Dif: -5 miles (52 miles in January)

My average pace slowed this month, despite a spate of "fastest of the year" runs. Looking at my increased trail mileage (22.2 in February vs. 13.7 in January), and the reason for the apparent slowdown becomes clear. I ran 47 percent of February's total mileage on trails, whereas 26 percent of January's total were on trails.

If I divide my runs into trails and non-trails, my average pace for each were 11:17 per mile on trails and 9:46 on every other surface. In January, those paces were 11:59 and 10:02, respectively. Drilling down just a little bit, and my improvement over last month come into focus.

My mileage should have increased in February, but I missed a couple runs due to family circumstances. Except for a little tightness in my legs after last week's increase in mileage, my body feels strong for another good month.

March's goals are to continue with my conservative pretraining plan, which will take me up to eight miles by month's end, and to enjoy my first race of the year. I'm not planning any sort of aggressive ramp-up for the event. I've based my goals on Sunday's "mud skiing" run, and I'm looking forward to some friendly competition.