January 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

MegaMooseEsq

@AlphaHowls: I definitely didn't think you were lying, but it's hard for me to imagine running 2.7 miles in laps in my basement, let alone 27! Very impressive!

7lenny7 wrote: »

Mentally it's just hard to dress down in temps and wind like this without a bunch of experience to draw on.

This is really the biggest reason I haven't been out to run the last couple of days. It's taken a lot of time and energy (and money) to figure out what clothes to wear this winter, and while it's amazing when I have a run like the race on Saturday where my clothes are just about perfect, all those too hot or too cold runs are tough. Yes, hot and humid runs are difficult too, but in that case there's nothing one can do really but suck it up, stay hydrated, and power through. Spending the time planning a cold-weather outfit, then putting it all on (good luck if realize you need to pee before going out!), then maybe going back inside to take something off or put something on, only to realize a couple miles in that you misjudged _whatever_ is a lot harder for me to deal with, even knowing that I'm building data points that will make it easier the next time I go out.

When I started running it was important to me to keep my goals so easy that I couldn't come up with excuses not to do it. So I'd run for 10 minutes at a time, basically in the same clothes I'd wear around the house, and it built up from there. A lot of things have changed, but I still like to be efficient with my time, and I haven't reached that point of peace yet with how much extra time and energy running in this kind of weather takes. Right now I feel reasonably confident in my ability to dress for a run in weather down to about 0, but more than that I want to ease into, which makes those short runs I've been doing home from the gym great. It's not "wasted" time because I have to get home somehow, and it's not far enough to be that miserable even if my clothes aren't quite right. Maybe this afternoon I'll try for another weather PR: -2. Fingers crossed for snow!

sarahthes

@martaindale I find my trail times are 50-100% longer than my normal times for the same distance. I'm a back of the pack runner, for some perspective.

Tramboman

@martaindale Once the gun sounds, you'll forget all about your congestion. Have a great race.

zeesparrow

Finished the month with 2 miles today. I am still fighting a stupid cough, which kept me up late last night. I did not want to drag my butt out of bed, but I did and am proud of myself for doing so.

I heard a saying (was it here?) that the first mile is a lie. I'm starting to understand that! I have my Garmin set to half mile laps and that first half mile was brutal. Then I realized I was going faster than I thought, so I slowed down for the next half. The third and fourth though, were great. I even pushed myself to increase pace here and there since it was a "short run" and ended up with negative splits. (6:38, 6:45, 6:28, 5:49) I'm really pleased with that.

My total for the month of January is 23.05 miles ran, 21.67 miles walked. As for my goals...

1) Lower body fat - nope
2) Lower weight - maybe?
3) Run 3x per week - no, but only because I was sick
4) Strength train 2x per week (starting w/1x) - nope (only once all month, oops)
5) Walk 3-4x per week - almost
6) Bike/cross train 1-2x per week - yes, because I count walking for now
7) Mobility exercises 3x+ per week - nope
8) Not to pressure myself! I've found the joy of running again, I don't want to spoil it by getting all "OMG, I HAVE to run for this goal I'm setting!" or I HAVE to train for this race! (stolen from @dreamer12151) - YES!

I definitely have room for improvement. HA!

tammierlewis

Set a goal for myself of 50 miles per month. Finished January with 85 miles! Have worked up to 7 miles on my long Sunday runs and signed up for my first half marathon later in the year. Slow but steady progress.

AlphaHowls

@7lenny7 wrote: »

@AlphaHowls Wow. just...wow. That takes some mental toughness which I do not possess. Did you switch directions from time to time?

@ContraryMaryMary

I have trained myself to change direction at the end/beginning of every song. Keeps me from getting an overuse injury. It happened last year to my shin, realized I needed to change direction ever so often.

1/1 5.55 miles, 26.44 miles, (Total 31.99 miles)
1/2 13.25 miles, 247 days on the run
1/3 13.46 miles
1/4 13.77 miles - raining
1/5 13.52 miles, 250 days on the run
1/6 13.22 miles
1/7 14.45 miles
1/8 15.05 miles
1/9 16.06 miles
1/10 13.38 miles, 255 days on the run, (22°F/-5°C)
1/11 15.08 miles
1/12 27.36 miles
1/13 16.26 miles, rain/mist, but really felt awesome! Praise God!
1/14 14.2 miles
1/15 14.46 miles, 260 days on the run, 245.51 miles/minimum of 200 miles
1/16 15.39 miles
1/17 3.43 miles, crazy laps (sometimes rain turns me off)
1/18 30.33 miles,
1/19 30.17 miles
1/20 15.22 miles, 265 days on the run, 340.05 miles to date
1/21 3.38 miles, baby my shin, crazy laps
1/22 7.19 miles, taking care of my shin
1/23 10.21 miles, The wind is a bully!
1/24 6.23 miles, crazy laps
1/25 26.2 miles, 270 days on the run, (20°F/-6°C to (32°F/0°C)
1/26 30.35 miles, thigh started to nag
1/27 15.28 miles, thigh pain
1/28 18.39 miles, 1300 days on MFP!
1/29 7.56 miles, arctic/frigid air, crazy laps
1/30 27.11 miles, 275 days on the run, arctic/frigid air, crazy laps
1/31 13.44 miles, arctic/frigid air, crazy laps

505.39 total miles for January
7 runs were Marathon plus mileage
18 runs were half marathon plus mileage

7lenny7

@AlphaHowls you would be the perfect candidate for the Sandlot Marathon coming up in March
https://sandlotmarathon.com/
If you sign up I'll do it with you.

@zeesparrow nice way to finish up the month!

@martaindale if this is your first trail race, don't pay attention to your pace. Just watch your footing, take it easy, and enjoy the fun. You will be significantly slower on trail than on pavement.

@MegaMooseEsq you make great points about the time overhead of cold weather running. I think I spent as much time dressing, fidgeting, and reconfiguring for that first run as I did actually running. For me it was worth it, but I can see how it's a deterrent. And my second arctic run...yeah, I had to pee as soon as I was ready to go outside. I just ignored it and ran.

@ddmom0811 not unsurprisingly, I was the only one I saw running, and I didn't see any other tracks either.

No bitter cold run for me this morning so I guess I'll take Kody out this evening the balmy 0F weather.

PastorVincent

7lenny7 wrote: »

@MegaMooseEsq you make great points about the time overhead of cold weather running. I think I spent as much time dressing, fidgeting, and reconfiguring for that first run as I did actually running. For me it was worth it, but I can see how it's a deterrent. And my second arctic run...yeah, I had to pee as soon as I was ready to go outside. I just ignored it and ran.

Honestly, that is one of the biggest reasons (behind Raynaud's of course) I end up on the dreadmill. If I have an hour or so to run and have to spend a big chunk of that dress/undressing it kills the run.

polskagirl01

Today was a trip to the woods with my nordic poles, and my little buddy with his sled. We found a lot of nice hills so part of my time was running up and then pulling him partway down. At one point we were off trail and he asked me, "Mama, what kind of dangerous animals are active in the woods during winter?" I said probably none in these woods other than maybe a dog. He was worried about wolves, but I think the only actual concern might be surprising a wild boar (I did not mention this). Just then we reached the path and saw a man cross-country skiing towards us. As he passed us, he joked, "I heard there are skiers in these woods, but I'm not sure that's true." Ha ha It wa certainly a good day for the skiers.

Here's my question. Later I took buddy home and went back out by myself so I could actually run a bit. Both workouts were measured by the same watch. The first workout was significantly slower and I stopped to pause the watch numerous times when I was standing there waiting for him to sled down a hill or catch up. But moving time was the same for both: 35 minutes each, covering 2k and almost 4k. Yet the calorie burn came out as HIGHER for the slower workout (440 to 330). Why is this?

Either way, I substituted the 70 minutes of "other" for my scheduled 11k training run, and I enjoyed myself. I even forgot that I hate winter and snow

shanaber

I have a lot of respect for @7lenny7 but OMG I could not do that.
I wouldn't be running around my basement like @AlphaHowls since we don't have basements but I would be running on a treadmill as much as I hate it, and watching a movie or something!
Like @ddmom0811 I will invite you all to come to So California. It has been as high as 80 this week with the lows in the high 40's. We are about to get dumped on with a lot more rain so maybe hold off a week if you don't like rain running!

ETA - pool heater is now working and pool is hopefully warm today. I will be holding water running tryouts if anyone wants to join me 😊

Azercord

Hit my goal and my stretch goal and even then some. After my run home I will be at 134.5 miles for the month, not going to lie I will probably do some laps around the block to hit 135 miles.

@PastorVincent loving all the movie references but it makes me feel like a bit of a nerd since I not only recognize them but can usually remember the movie they are from.

PastorVincent

Azercord wrote: »

@PastorVincent loving all the movie references but it makes me feel like a bit of a nerd since I not only recognize them but can usually remember the movie they are from.

My newest book is a portal fantasy where the main characters are a group of gamers so it is full of such random quotes.

Azercord

@PastorVincent where can I find said book?

Mari33a

1/01 3.25 miles
02/01 3.19 miles
16/01 3.16 miles
17/01 3.25 miles
29/01 3.11 miles
31/01 3.27 miles - very cold run but not as cold as Minnesota! It made our news channel.

PastorVincent

Azercord wrote: »

@PastorVincent where can I find said book?

I can not link to my books here, as that understandably would be flagged by the mods as self-promotion. I can Private Message you though, so I did. Check there.

lporter229

This thread is cracking me up!! A bunch of nuts up in here!

Hats off to your amazing grit , @7lenny7 , @AlphaHowls and @kgirlhart (hey, it takes a lot of determination to get out there at lunchtime, right?)!

As for me, this evening I will be going all @7lenny7 and braving the frozen tundra (16F) and, due to ice still on the roads, will probably have to channel my inner @AlphaHowls and do some "crazy laps" (one mile loops around the downtown area counts, right?). Yeah, my (non-running) friends think I'm insane.

Avidkeo

@AlphaHowls wow. Just wow. I bow down.
And all you crazy northerners who are out running in your crazy weather! It's sweltering here but it's cool enough in the early morning so I don't really have any excuse...

Except its so hot at night I'm not sleeping very well and keep turning off my alarm in the middle of the night because that extra hr sleep seems more important than a run. I'm going to stop doing that because I ALWAYS regret not running - and a wise person said you never regret the run you do, only the ones you don't.

So with that theme I grudgingly went out this morning. Mostly because I was only dozing anyway. I thought I'd only do 3k, but at the 1.5k mark it turned into 4k, that turned into 5 cause I was feeling gook. They were slow, much slower than usual but I did it.

So a good start to Feb.

shanaber

My pool running tryouts were an epic fail! The pool heater has been on for 2 days and the pool is not heated... barely even feels less cold. 😣

I will go for my 1 mile walk with Hobbes the Vizsla before it starts raining though. That will bring my January total to about 27 miles.

@lporter229 - We are all nuts! I mean who runs in -50 weather or runs laps in the basement for more than a marathon or heats their pool in January for water running?

Onto the February thread!

workaholic_nurse

And 6.1 miles this morning brings me just past my stretch goal of 150 miles for the month *happy dance*. Another 23F/-5C run this morning. Nowhere near as cool as @7lenny7 -27F air temp but cool for us here in GA. Temperature regulation is not really an issue for me as I sweat no matter what I wear, my objective is not to freeze, so 50F and above is tshirt and shorts, 40-50F is long sleeve shirt and shorts, 30-40F add a base layer top and bottom, 20-30F add a midlayer top and bottom and wool socks(all plans subject to modification depending on wind/rain). Haven't run in colder than 20 degree weather since I moved back to GA 11 years ago, so no plan at this time for colder than that.

@AlphaHowls /bow

@7lenny7 Rock it out brother, awesome subzero runs.

@shanaber So sorry your pool heater not working.

@PastorVincent I am assuming same author name, will have to look it up when I have time this weekend.

@Avidkeo quality is good, but just getting out there is awesome!

@Mari33a Your shoulder must be feeling better, physio must have come up with some killer stuff for you!

@martaindale good luck on your trail run!

@ddmom0811 ooohhhh 40's, I am so there, LOL!

@MobyCarp Good luck at nationals sir!

@polskagirl01 That forest looks totally awesome!

Mari33a

@workaholic_nurse I was with physio this morning. While what felt like was unscrewing my head he asked what exercise I do & I said run, but not much recently. He said to keep running as it should help keep my neck & shoulders loose & what’s caused me pain is sitting continually in one position. Turns & he’s a runner too & does marathon in Prague every year! I almost laughed out loud as I know from this groups experience with running & non running physios.