December 2015 Running Challenge

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  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    December Running Totals (miles)
    12/1- 6.58 (warmup, speed work, cool down)
    12/2- extra rest day :(
    12/3- 6.40 easy
    12/4- 8.12 easy
    12/5-15.00 long slow run
    12/6-9.15 easy with hills
    12/7- planned rest day
    12/8- 8.29 easy
    12/9- 6.00 easy
    12/10- unscheduled rest day (plan was 6 miles)
    12/11- 6.04 easy (instead of planned rest day)
    12/12- 16.00 long slow run
    12/13- 10.05 easy
    12/14- 6.07 easy
    12/15- 8.21 hills
    12/16- scheduled rest day
    12/17- 8.18 easy with fast finish
    12/18- scheduled rest day
    12/19- 15.77 (3.45 warmup; 3.13 Reindeer Run 5K in 20:16, 1st M 55-59; 9.19 easy)
    12/20- 7.87 easy
    12/21- scheduled rest day
    12/22- 8.11 moderate

    Total- 145.84
    Goal- none stated

    Today's notes - I had some confusion about speed work with the running club. Went to the indoor facility, and there was no one from the club there. Well, I was there and I paid for three months, so I ran 8 laps of the 200 m indoor track to warm up. Meanwhile, a Boston training buddy showed up. He had thought the club would be meeting there, but it was only the two of us. Plan B - he is on week 2 of an 18 week program he put together, and speed work on a track works for him. I'm just doing miles before I start a 16 week program next week. It was 54° out and the rain had stopped. I had my reflective gear with me. Put on the reflective harness and lights, dumped the rest of my stuff in the car, and set out to run a big loop from the field house parking lot, outside, on the shortest day of the year. The loop had some nice little hills on it, and I didn't work at controlling my pace; that came in at 7:47 per mile average, perhaps a bit faster than I should do for easy but certainly not speed work. Garmin tracked the loop as 7.19 miles, and gave me 0.92 miles for the warmup on the track. The track was probably very close to a mile even, as I wasn't running on the inside lane; but being a track, it was easier running than the road. I think Garmin was estimating from my cadence. I don't know how sophisticated the algorithm is, but Garmin has a lot of data from outdoor runs to work with. Of course, most of the data it has is from running on asphalt, not a nice soft track. *shrug* It's close enough that I'll count it as Garmin recorded it, but I'll have to think about what I'll do when I get to true speed work indoors without GPS signal.

    Upcoming races:
    Jan. 1, 2016 Resolution Run 7.5 mile (Mendon, NY)
    Jan. 9, 2016 Winter Warrior Half Marathon (Rochester, NY)
    April 18, 2016 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)
  • HonuNui
    HonuNui Posts: 1,464 Member
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    December goal 65 miles


    12/1 5.00
    12/2 4.11
    12/3 snorkel 3 hours
    12/4 4.37
    12/5 7.31
    12/6 3.15
    12/7 got home from work. Sat. Never got back up.
    12/8 3.43. Stopped the car on a side road and ran. Knew if I went home....see above.
    12/9 3.52
    12/10 ZAPPA Tribute concert!
    12/11 3.25
    12/12 3.5
    12/13 3.18
    12/14 rest
    12/15 8.16
    12/16 3.07
    12/17 4.00
    12/18 rest
    12/19 3.25
    12/20 3.50
    12/21 couldn't. just couldn't
    12/22 3.78


    Total 66.58

    Upcoming races:
    3/20 Big Island International 1/2 marathon
    11/13 Las Vegas Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon

    Ticker is my goal for 2015 and accumulation to date:

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  • 7lenny7
    7lenny7 Posts: 3,493 Member
    edited December 2015
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    Kody & I got out for 8.25 miles tonight. First a short loop around the neighborhood then three loops around the pond. At the 6 mile mark the bone spur in my shoulder started to flare up and by the time I got home the tip of my thumb was tingling. I'm almost to the point of seeing a doctor about it. It flares up on about every third longer run but seems to be more frequent lately and it's never given me a tingly thumb or any other digit.

    I picked up a Black Diamond Icon Polar Headlamp recently on clearance for only $42 (normally $100) and tried it out tonight. The light is fantastic! They advertise 200 lumen max and I can believe it with this one. It's also has a dimmer function, white or red LEDs, and 75 hour life on high (250 hour on low). I still need to tweak the straps on this and figure out how to best configure the remote battery pack but I think I'm going to like this, if not for night running, then certainly for deer hunting. Not only can I see the path or road much better, but I'm no longer relying on passive reflectors on my clothes...I now can point my beam at cars to give them a better chance of seeing me.

    I recall last summer, when I was new to running, I use to think that I'd never be able to run with a consistent pace. I was up and down, up and down. Looking at tonights run my mile splits were 10:10, 9:51, 9:53, 10:01, 10:01, 9:58, 10:07, 9:53 and 10:11. Not to shabby.

    Upcoming races (registered & tentative)

    03/12/2016 - Get Lucky Half Marathon - St. Paul, MN
    04/16/2016 - Trail Mix 25K - Lake Rebecca Park
    05/14/2016 - Lake Wobegon Marathon - Holdingford, MN
    06/25/2016 - Circle of Life Half Marathon - Lake City, MN
    07/04/2016 - Red Wing July 4th 10K - Red Wing, MN
    07/20/2016 - Torchlight 5K - Minneapolis


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  • Ohhim
    Ohhim Posts: 1,142 Member
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    Got in a double workout today, as I ended up taking yesterday as a rest day and needed to get in both some speedwork and a recovery run. Did the recovery run mid-day in the heat, and the speedwork session late tonight. Although the speedwork session called for 10 min @ 10K pace, then 6-1K repeats at same pace (w. 90 second recoveries), I had to cut back on my last 2 repeats as the temperature was still in the mid-70s w. 80%+ humidity.

    12/1 - 4 miles
    12/2 - 4 miles (hill repeats at a 7 pace)
    12/3 - 4 miles
    12/5 - 6 miles
    12/6 - 4 miles (5k in 19:26 - 2nd/85 runners)
    12/7 - 15 miles (w. speedwork session in middle)
    12/8 - 6 miles
    12/9 - 7.5 miles (w. group tempo session in middle)
    12/10 - 7 miles
    12/11 - 3 miles
    12/12 - 1 mile (pre lift warmup)
    12/13 - 10 miles
    12/14 - 20 miles (w. speedwork session in middle)
    12/15 - 10 miles
    12/16 - 8.5 miles
    12/17 - 1 mile (pre lift warmup)
    12/18 - 4 miles
    12/19 - 6 miles (10k in 40:12 - 2nd age group)
    12/20 - 20 miles
    12/22 - 13 miles (w. 6 miles of speedwork)

    Total: 154 miles
    Goal: 230 miles
    Remaining: 76 miles (8.4/day)

    Looks like if I hit my target for the month, I'll complete 1700 miles of running (and 5000 miles of biking) for the year. Definitely good with those totals!
  • Mari33a
    Mari33a Posts: 1,129 Member
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    Got another 3 miles last night in the rain
  • smilelaughlove17
    smilelaughlove17 Posts: 134 Member
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  • _nikkiwolf_
    _nikkiwolf_ Posts: 1,380 Member
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    kimlight2 wrote: »
    moyer566 wrote: »
    Just curious .. Has anyone ever done any virtual runs on the internet?

    I did one with runkeeper. a 5k and then a 10k challenge

    Thanks for this! You know I cannot find an virtual run online that is happy to ship a medal to Australia!? Grr

    Did you look at US Road Running? They say they ship Internationally. As does Virtual Strides.
    Thanks for posting that, @kimlight2 ! I might check out those sites as well and see if they ship to Europe. Though I'm still not sure how the whole virtual race thing works exacly - does everyone start at the same time? If that's early weekend mornings in the US, that might not be too bad.

    @kristinegift Congratulations on conquering that hill! 8% grade is a lot. How long is the hill?

    @shanaber welcome home! Sounds like you had an absolutely lovely vacation!

    @Virkati Kudos on getting up early twice! I'm absolutely not a morning runner - I might manage to get up early to run once in a while, but two days in a row fills me with awe :)

    @runner_girl83 The half-marathon training plan looks great. I've looked at HM-plans every now and then before, but the way the long-run mileage grows always intimindates me. Somehow, a plan which tells me to walk a good bit of the long runs looks much more doable. And tempting B) There is a HM on the 8th May 2016 - if I started the training plan right now, I should be able to complete it in time. Though I've never done a longer race than 5k...

    @7lenny7 I wish you all the best for your shoulder! I'll keep my fingers crossed it's nothing serious. Oh, and I have to mention, I'm kind of jealous of your headlamp - it sounds really high-class. :smile: I'm still running with a flashlight held in my hands, and a really annoying strobe light clipped to my back (where I can't see it myself, otherwise I would have ditched it long ago)

  • fat2fitshley
    fat2fitshley Posts: 50 Member
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    12/8 3.00 miles @ 9.53 -- 22 miles remaining
    12/16 2.00 miles @ 9.31 -- 20 miles remaining (I better kick up my efforts a bit)
    12/21 3.00 miles on the elliptical -- 17 miles remaining (My shins are still hurting, so I'm taking it easy and trying to stay active at the same time)
    12/22 3.00 miles on the elliptical -- 14 miles remaining


  • MorningGhost14
    MorningGhost14 Posts: 441 Member
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    DATE...............MILES...............TOTAL
    12/1....................6.00....................6.00
    12/2....................5.00..................11.00
    12/3....................6.25..................17.25
    12/4...................REST.................17.25
    12/5....................14.00.................31.25
    12/6...................REST.................31.25
    12/7......................3.75.................35.00
    12/8......................7.50.................42.50
    12/9......................4.00.................46.50
    12/10.................REST.................46.50
    12/11....................5.25.................51.75
    12/12....................5.50.................57.25
    12/13..................12.50.................69.75
    12/14.................REST.................69.75
    12/15.....................6.25................76.00
    12/16.....................4.00................80.00
    12/17.....................4.25................84.25
    12/18.................REST.................84.25
    12/19...................14.00................98.25 (Cold one... 21F, windchill 12F)
    12/20.....................6.00..............104.25
    12/21.................REST................104.25
    12/22.....................7.00...............111.25
    12/23.....................5.00...............116.25


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  • _nikkiwolf_
    _nikkiwolf_ Posts: 1,380 Member
    edited December 2015
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    I'm spending the holidays at my parents place. I didn't enjoy the flight to get here (at the airport, twice someone drove their luggage trolly across my foot - both times across my poor nail-less toe. Ouch!). But being here is nice. And as a bonus, I get to run along the coast :)

    One of my colleages mentioned last week that it must be so great to have a chance to run in the soft sand on the beach - I have to admit I usually pick my routes such that there are some sort of paved paths. There is one stretch along one of my two favourite routes where I have no choice but to run on the beach for a bit, and it's hard! It's probably great training in some way, but I just came back from a run on that route, and my legs are really tired.

    The weather's been really windy these last few days, which means there were very few people around. Most of the time, the wind and waves are the only sound. And a two-week-escape from hills is also quite nice. :wink:

    22.12.2015 - 7.6 km
    23.12.2015 - 5.6 km

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  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
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    1-6.65mi build up run from 13:07-11:04
    2-strength and yoga day
    3-6.69mi fast run 11:40, technically. but reality is we have 5 min warm up and potty breaks for the dog
    4-rest day, maybe yoga day. feeling poopy
    5-13.17mi I was only scheduled for 11 but I was feeling so good at 9 miles I went on and decided to do a whole 13. I have to say a marathon isn't that scarey now.
    6-3.18mi for recovery and to do the Runkeeper Global 5k
    7-yoga
    8-rest day. so tired i'm dizzy. not sure why
    9-no sleep last night-rest. I'm calling it recovery week from the 18miles this weekend :smiley: aerial yoga at night
    10-3.12mi with hills, including two steep ones. top of quads and hips still feel extremely tight
    11-planned on running but was too tired still. rest day
    12-10.37 it went well. I was supposed to run the last three with my stepdaughter-to-be but typical teenager, she slept in. tried a new trail. it was nice and foggy. good run
    13-meant to make up the other three. didn't happen
    14-yoga day.
    15-6.56mi They felt fast. I felt fast. runkeepers updates overall made me sound fast, but i was slow. 1 min off my pace.
    16-yoga day. I did a video for the GOT challenge. not as satisfying as my asanas :( Great aerial yoga night though
    17-6.48mi. I'm not sure if the distance is right because i ran the same route as the 15th. hard run but i feel good about finishing it
    18-rest day. stretchng this morning. working on my splits for yoga. yoga tonight of some form or another
    19-13.2mi it was hard. it didn't feel easy like my last 13
    20-rest day
    21-stomach bug
    22-stomach bug
    23-up late with a butt sick dog and still a little queasy @7lenny7 thanks for the well wishes. Hope your shoulder doesn't bother you too much. I have a small spur and inflammation in my right shoulder



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    upcoming race:
    jan 17: Frosty 5K Run / Walk
    feb 13: Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Run/Walk
    (tenative) mar 14: The Great Pi Run 5k. I want to do it but SE vacation may get in the way. :frowning:


  • 5BeautifulDays
    5BeautifulDays Posts: 683 Member
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    7lenny7 wrote: »

    I recall last summer, when I was new to running, I use to think that I'd never be able to run with a consistent pace. I was up and down, up and down. Looking at tonights run my mile splits were 10:10, 9:51, 9:53, 10:01, 10:01, 9:58, 10:07, 9:53 and 10:11. Not to shabby.

    If there's one thing I'm good at, it's running a fairly consistent pace. I guess all those months on the treadmill taught me how to do that! But I love your times--I can hang in there close to that for 2 miles or so (3 in a race), but I want my longer runs to look like that, too! :)
    I'm spending the holidays at my parents place. I didn't enjoy the flight to get here (at the airport, twice someone drove their luggage trolly across my foot - both times across my poor nail-less toe. Ouch!). But being here is nice. And as a bonus, I get to run along the coast :)

    One of my colleages mentioned last week that it must be so great to have a chance to run in the soft sand on the beach - I have to admit I usually pick my routes such that there are some sort of paved paths. There is one stretch along one of my two favourite routes where I have no choice but to run on the beach for a bit, and it's hard! It's probably great training in some way, but I just came back from a run on that route, and my legs are really tired.

    What a beautiful place to run, although I agree with you about the beach. I got to run on the beach on vacation this summer and while it was gorgeous, it was also really, really hard! In particular, my shoes kept filling up with sand (I had my trail shoes with me, which are great for drainage, but not so much for keeping stuff out!) and that rubbed my feet in a really unpleasant way. I think I'd go to vibrams or something if I was going to run on the beach often.

  • ddmom0811
    ddmom0811 Posts: 1,878 Member
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    @kristinegift - amazing to kill that hill and have a fast mile to boot!
    @moyer566 - First you, and now your dog! Hope you are both better today!
    @Elise4270 - lol on that training device. No way for me.
    @7lenny7 - your running has been amazing - can't believe you just started this year. And to keep it up through that freezing Minn weather .. amazing!
    @runner_girl83 - I run for wine too. And chocolate.
    @MorningGhost14 - I didn't make the connection that you are the former Lone Wolf Runner - great writer guy. I was too busy all month to read everything if you mentioned it earlier. No point to that... just saying. :wink:
    Anyway, I have your posts about shoes, mom and why you like running as favorites (or starred on here) so I can read them when I need inspiration!


    Dec 1 - 2.64
    Dec 2 - 5K
    Dec 3 - 1.4 streak
    Dec 4 - 5.16 miles
    Dec 5 - 4.16 miles - Savannah! Wish I had more time because this was the best run ever.
    Dec 6 - 5.5 miles
    Dec 7 - 1.1
    Dec 8 - 4 miles
    Dec 9 - 1.4 miles - streak
    Dec 10 - 3.75 miles
    Dec 11 - 6 miles
    Dec 12 - 35 mile bike ride, 1 mile run
    Dec 13 - 32 mile bike ride, 1 mile run
    Dec 14 - 3.5 miles
    Dec 15 - 4.72
    Dec 16 - 1.4 + strength training
    Dec 17 - 4.75 miles
    Dec 18 - 1.1 mile
    Dec 19 - 35 miles Biking and 2 mile run
    Dec 20 - 35 miles biking again and 1.1 mile run
    Dec 21 - 7.04 miles
    Dec 22 - 1.1 miles
    Dec 23 - 2.5 miles + strength training


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    Was supposed to go to do an hour spinning class yesterday but my lower back was very tight/tender. Apparently I can run and bike for miles and miles, but should I sit on the floor wrapping present and make a weird stretch to reach for something... then I will injure myself. It's much better today, thank goodness.
    Tomorrow is a group bike ride to Swamp House (it's a bar/restaurant in the area). Then I'll get my little streak mile in.

    Are people running on Christmas day? I suppose I am since it's part of my streak and no kids at home. Last year I had a house of company so felt ridiculous running that day.
  • kristinegift
    kristinegift Posts: 2,406 Member
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    ddmom0811 wrote: »

    Are people running on Christmas day? I suppose I am since it's part of my streak and no kids at home. Last year I had a house of company so felt ridiculous running that day.

    @ddmom0811 I will be! Our only company is my grandma, and she won't mind. I am resting today since it's raining all day, and then running Christmas Eve and Day. Plus then I can try out my new running stuff that I HOPE is sitting under the tree right now! :)


    @kristinegift Congratulations on conquering that hill! 8% grade is a lot. How long is the hill?

    @_nikkiwolf_ It's about a quarter of a mile, but it feels twice as long when it's that steep! PS your pictures look like you're spending Christmas in a beautiful running locale! I think running on non-paved surfaces is tough, and especially sand! Plus sand gets in your shoes... ick!
  • 7lenny7
    7lenny7 Posts: 3,493 Member
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    @_nikkiwolf_ the headlamp is overkill for the running I'm doing now but if I start doing some night time trail running, which I'm considering doing, this will definitely be a great lamp to have, particularly in winter.

    @ddmom0811, thanks, my body has always been very resilient. I heal quickly and either I don't get much pain or my pain tolerance is high. Between that and learning about how to run properly (mostly from reading @Stoshew71's posts) I have been able me to push myself without incurring injury. When I run my first marathon in May it will be just 5 days past my 1 year running anniversary.

    I won't be running on Christmas because we'll be just be too busy, but I am thinking about doing a 10 or 12 mile run tomorrow morning and another long one on Saturday.
  • skippygirlsmom
    skippygirlsmom Posts: 4,433 Member
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    2/1 - 1.6 miles - 3K fun run with my friend John, who just lost almost 100 lbs :sunglasses: Oh yeah I realize 1.6 isn't a 3K but that's what they called it even though my watch said 1.6
    12/2 - life day
    12/3 - 5 miles
    12/4 - no mojo day
    12/5 - 7 miles
    12/6 - 3.9 miles trail run with my running group
    12/7 - 5 miles
    12/8 - 12 - wrist surgery recovery
    12/13 - 4 miles
    12/14 - resting knee
    12/15 - 3.5 miles with Skip - we ran after work and the lights on houses are so pretty - knee started to hurt at 2.5 so we cut it short
    12/16 - resting knee
    12/17 - 4 miles
    12/18-21 life days
    12/22 - 5 miles
    12/23 - 3.2 miles - knee hurt from first step (UGH) of course I decided to run 3 more miles ha ha icing it now

    42.2 of 120 miles

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  • Virkati
    Virkati Posts: 679 Member
    edited December 2015
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    So my mini morning streak got derailed today :'(. Yesterday I was developing a migraine but was ignoring it, and medicating it HARD. At midnight I got up, doubled up on the meds, added a Benadryl and did my best to sleep. When the alarm went off at 5 I had to make a decision about working out or sleeping an extra hour to see if that would help. So I slept. I'm still hurting but it's a little lower on the pain scale. Decided if I'm still hurting at lunch, I'm bailing out of work and hitting the sack and I'll just add today's miles to the rest of the month. Next week I'm planning on 4 mornings straight (just remembered Friday I don't work)! I refuse to get up early on my days off lol.
  • MorningGhost14
    MorningGhost14 Posts: 441 Member
    edited December 2015
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    ddmom0811 wrote: »
    @MorningGhost14 - I didn't make the connection that you are the former Lone Wolf Runner - great writer guy. I was too busy all month to read everything if you mentioned it earlier. No point to that... just saying. :wink:
    Anyway, I have your posts about shoes, mom and why you like running as favorites (or starred on here) so I can read them when I need inspiration!
    Thanks! I didn't really mention it much because there are so many new people on here and I figured I would get around to touching base with my old friends... I recently went back and re-read some of my stuff and thought about putting the links up because I had a lot of fun writing them...
  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    ddmom0811 wrote: »
    Are people running on Christmas day? I suppose I am since it's part of my streak and no kids at home. Last year I had a house of company so felt ridiculous running that day.

    In years past, I have run on Christmas day and found it very pleasant. The roads are almost totally devoid of traffic, so I get to enjoy the weather and the scenery more than usual. This year, Christmas happens to fall on what should be a rest day in my schedule. But my Christmas Eve schedule is tight, and my run could be shorter than usual then. I'll see how many miles I have in for the week after Thursday, then make a decision. If I end up running on Christmas instead of honoring the rest day, it will be something very short - no more than 4 miles, perhaps only 3. If I have enough miles in that honoring the rest day makes more sense, I'll go out walking to enjoy the traffic-free roads.

    Long answer made short - the fact that it's Christmas doesn't really make a difference in whether I run or not. How the day fits into the training plan matters.

  • Virkati
    Virkati Posts: 679 Member
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    Thanks! I didn't really mention it much because there are so many new people on here and I figured I would get around to touching base with my old friends... I recently went back and re-read some of my stuff and thought about putting the links up because I had a lot of fun writing them...

    @MorningGhost14 DO IT!