August 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

PastorVincent

@Lazy_Bones_85 - You know many people struggle with Yoga poses on the ground? Yet there you are doing the Downward Dog, upsidedown and in the air!

rheddmobile

In for fifty miles this month, stretch goal of 60. My primary goal is to continue rehabbing my Achilles’ tendon and not have a setback, and my secondary goals are to continue running in the heat, while adding mileage and preparing myself for the West Cancer Center 5k in September. West Cancer Center is important to me because it’s where my husband was treated and also because it’s my runniversary. Last year I was 4th in AG and I would really love to podium this year - but of course you can’t control who else shows up!

It’s Aug 1 and the thread is already five pages, I am going to go catch up and then answer the monthly question.

taxgirl1

I'm back after a couple of months off. I injured my hip in early May but of course I kept running which made the injury even worse. So after 6 weeks of physio, which included no running, and then 3 weeks of vacation, I have barely done any running. The most disappointing part was that I missed 2 races that I had signed up for. I have no idea what mileage I will be doing, but my plan is to just get out and run 3x per week. I want to run a 5k this month and there is a 10k I plan on running in early October, but lets see how I feel as I get back into running.

Squish815

First short run in the bag for August. Work's about to get busy so I'll have to see how the next 2 weeks go, but I'll at least get a long-ish run in on Saturday.

01 Aug - 1.8 miles (treadmill)

1.8 miles/50 miles

Scott6255

Short 7 miles this morning. Tough to get started, but eased up in the end. At least got something started for August.

zeesparrow

On the board on the first day of the month with a run in my new shoes (same model, new color). I'm hoping they'll be "broken in" enough for my race next weekend. They worked great this morning, but 3 miles isn't 13.1.

August Miles - 3.03/55, walk 0
08/01 - 3.03

MegaMooseEsq

Today I got to run 3.83 miles around my home lake. My legs, especially the left one, felt a little heavy, and I have GOT to quit smoking again, but I didn’t have any significant pain or tightness - woo! I’m feeling better about the 10K this Saturday, even if it will be the longest distance I’ve run since early June, and that was the furthest I’d run since mid February. Youch. I miss long runs.

One super crummy annoying thing - around the last quarter to half a mile my thighs started chafing right around where my shorts end. This has absolutely never happened to me before while running. I was wearing the same 5-inch-inseam shorts I’ve been running in for a couple of years now, the weather was perfectly lovely (I’ve run in much worse), and even if my running has been erratic this year, I’ve done this exact run multiple times in the last couple of months.

The only thing I can think of is that I’ve gained a little weight - during peak shorts weather last year I ranged from 150-160 lbs, and this year I’ve been steadily gaining since March and am in the mid-to-high 160s now. Still, I’ve been plateaued or losing for the last month so I would have thought that I’d have noticed something on one of my longer runs earlier in July, especially when the weather was worse.

Sigh. Well, we’re going to a running store tomorrow to pick up our packets, so I guess I’ll be picking up some body-glide too. More incentive to keep up my tracking, I suppose. Here are a couple kitty pictures to perk up the kitty lovers!

River and Simon having a peaceful moment together watching the birds.


Badger doing his sphinx imitation.

August Total: 3.83 miles

August Goals: Run 55 miles, lift minimum 2x/week, 15 minutes/day of moderate cardio, 15 minutes/day of mobility.

2019 Races! (bold registered)
January 26: Securian 10K, St. Paul, MN Chip time: 1:05:07
February 16: Half Fast 10K DNS - weather
March 23: Hot Dash 5K, Mpls, MN Chip time: 0:28:39 (*PR!)
May 19: Women Run the Cities 5K, Mpls, MN Chip time: 0:33:02
June 8: PHRC Pensieve 10K (virtual)
June 12: ESTRS French 5K, Plymouth, MN DNS - injury
June 29 Lift Bridge 5K, Bayport MN Chip time: 0:32:51
August 3: Beat the Blerch 10K, Carnation, WA
September 2: MDRA Victory Labor Day 5K, Mpls, MN
September 8: Sioux Falls Half Marathon, Sioux Falls, SD
October 5: TCM 10K, St. Paul, MN
October 6: TCM 10Mi, Minneapolis to St. Paul, MN
October 12: Bemidji Blue Ox 26K, Bemidji, MN
November 28: Turkey Trot St. Paul 10K, St. Paul, MN
December 14: Reindeer Run 10K, Mpls, MN

Tramboman

8-1 3.5k slow

August Total: 3.5k
August Goal: 150k

January Total: 131k
February Total: 159.5k
March Total: 183k
April Total: 126k
May Total: 128k
June Total: 161.5k
July Total: 151k

Monthly average: 148.5k

Next year when you pop in here claiming your December 2019 mileage, what accomplishments will you have made?
Run at least 4 5k races.
Get under 30:00 and a PR for 5k.
Average at least 135k per month, which would put me over 1,000 miles for the year.

Run the Year Team: Five for Nineteen

Scheduled rest day today. Golf instead. But because my schedule is going to be *kittened* up this weekend, decided to get 3.5k in today. Will get up early tomorrow and get at least another 3.5k in before I need to leave to go to my 49th High School reunion golf outing, which is a two hour drive from here. Hope I play better tomorrow than I did today.


2019 Races:

4-13 Shine the Light 5K - 31:12 chip time; First Place male 65 and older
6-30 Strides for Starfish 5K - 31:34 chip time; 31/77 overall; second male 65 and older (no official category)
7-27 Solon Home Days 5K - 31:11 chip time; 95/141 overall; 4/6 age group (male)
8-31 Race for Freedom 5k
9-14 Gift of Life 5k

ariceroni

August Running
08/01: 4.03 mile easy run
Total: 4.03 miles

Notes:
Got up early this morning and got my morning miles in while it was still nice and cool! Not much else to report for the day, except that I kept the pace extra easy since this is a cutback week and I have a track meet tomorrow night!

I'm a little nervous about the race- three weeks ago was a 1M track meet that I finished in 6:41. That one was easy to seed myself in, since I knew I could go sub-7 so I started in the 6:15-7 heat. This week though I'm doing the 2M, and I can't decide if I should place myself in the 12-14 or 14-17 min heats. I think I'll probably finish right around, or just over, 14. I don't want to finish last (lol) but I also don't want to spend extra energy weaving around people. I guess I'll see how I feel tomorrow night and make a last minute decision! They also are doing the mile later in the evening, so I will probably hop in to that race just for fun

Upcoming Races
08/02: Going Green Track Meet - 2M and 1M
08/11: Groovin’ Woodstock XC - 7K
08/17: Eastern County 8K
09/08: Parks Half Marathon
09/14: Lake Needwood XC - 10K
10/05: Black Hill XC - 10K
11/10: Candy Cane City 5K
12/01: Space Coast Half Marathon
12/08: Jingle Bell Jog - 8K
12/15: Seneca Slopes XC - 9K

kgirlhart

August goal: 100 miles

8/1: 6.30 miles

6.30/100 miles completed

I'm on the board for August with 6.3 miles. It was a pretty nice run, but it was hot. The temperature was 76°F, feels like 77°F with 79% humidity and the dew point was 69°. There is something about it feeling that warm at 5:45 in the morning that seems even hotter than it actually is. I guess it's not even noon yet and it's already 90°F feels like 94°F and we are supposed to hit 100° today so I know it could be worse. I did get up and get going pretty easily this morning and the run was good. I'll complain about the heat, but honestly I would rather run when it is a little warm than when it is under 40°F. I do like the 50's though.






2019 races:
2/2/19: Catch the Groundhog Half Marathon - PR 2:15:17
5/18/19: Run for 57th AHC Half Marathon - Cancelled due to weather

2020 races:
5/16/20: Run for 57th AHC Half Marathon

quilteryoyo

Just got back from the wedding in Wisconsin last night. As I feared, I didn't get any exercise in while I was gone. There was a lot of driving and sitting. Don't get me wrong, it was a great trip, just NO exercise. I also didn't have time to check in on you all, so was 10 pages behind in the July thread and already 5 pages behind here. I think I'll just give up on the July thread and try to catch up here.

I am going to try for 60 miles of moving in August - walk, run, ski machine, or whatever else I decide to do that gets my heart rate up. I did manage to beat my 30 mile goal in July. I figure I should be able to average 2 miles a day of something. Right? I did get in a 2 mile walk today to start the month off right.

JMNagain

A lovely run this morning to start August off. 5km which I quite enjoyed, which I wasn't expecting as a) it was hot, about 28C at 8am, b) my headphones weren't working so I had no entertainment and c) we were running into a strong wind which made the going difficult. However, not having headphones made me concentrate on other things for a while, mainly the sound of my breathing - wow I sound like I'm dying when I run!

I have added a few photos of my beautiful run, it's where my Grandad lives in Spain, a lovely spot for running!

@MegaMooseEsq your cats are beautiful! I love seeing the various cats and dogs on this board.

I've also been thinking about the questions of the month but don't have time to attempt the long ones just now... So I'll just say that my shoe size is 5.5UK, my new trainers (adidas boosts) are a US8 though, confusingly. And the best meal I ever had was an Italian in Cluj, Romania, where I had really simple homemade pasta cooked in butter and sage, and it was beautiful, to-die-for! And then I has ice-cream, which I am a fiend for, and a great coffee, and great wine. Everything you need in a meal!

Hmm - tried to edit my ticker and it didn't work. Oh well! I did do 5k, honest!

katharmonic

@JMNagain that definitely is a gorgeous place to run. Nice photos.

Welcome to all the newcomers to the group. We are happy to have you here and look forward to you joining in. As you can see it's an active group and can be hard to keep up with, but we all jump in and out when we can.

Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
08/01/19 :::: 3.6 :::: 3.6

I spent a couple of hours attacking that large tree limb with a chainsaw and I think I came out the winner for the most part. At least I didn't cut into anything that I wasn't aiming for. It was exhausting work so after I showered I took a little nap. Then I met a friend for a run. It was 81 degrees but the humidity is actually pretty low today so not terrible. If you aren't running it seems really pleasant. She had a time limitation and I had an energy limitation so just 3.6 miles today. Another shower and resting up before heading out again.

Goals:
So after a little calculation, I'm going to set my goal at 130 miles for August. It's going to be a bit tricky as my weekends are filling up with things other than long runs so I'm going to have to really work to stay on track. October is not that far away.

Upcoming races:
8/10/2019 Boston Super Spartan Race, Charlton, MA
8/11/2019 Boston Sprint Spartan Race, Charlton, MA
10/19/2019 I-35 Challenge KC Half Marathon, Kansas City, MO
10/20/2019 I-35 Challenge DSM Half Marathon, Des Moines, IA
11/10/2019 Syracuse Half Marathon, Syracuse, NY

quilteryoyo

@JMNagain That is a beautiful place to run. Glad you had a good one, even if the conditions weren't ideal.

Mari33a

Going for 50 miles again 🙈 probably won’t make it but ever the optomist! Went for my run, then dinner with other half to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary.

01/08 2.54 miles. Going to try to get back to 3+ miles again

rheddmobile

Elise4270 wrote: »

Ohhh I have a very bias monthly question .

Compare yourself now to 10, 20 and 30 years ago. What improvements do you love? What do you look forward too? What do you miss and how do you deal with that? Follow up with what would your 15 year old self think of you today.

ETA I think @MobyCarp would have loved this topic.

Let’s see, I’m 51 now, so I would have been 41, 31, and 21.

When I was 21 I was still in college. I was very slim - underweight even - and had a side job doing local modeling. I looked pretty good on the outside. But on the inside I was very sick with undiagnosed lupus. It would take me more than ten years to get a diagnosis, and in the meantime I went through various forms of misery. It’s much better knowing what the illness is and being able to receive proper treatment than feeling bad and having doctors claim there was nothing wrong.

One thing I prefer about myself today is that sometime when I was in my mid-twenties I learned not to put up with people who like drama. My husband and I - who were part of the same crowd back then, even before we were dating - call this “running up and down stairs” because my roommate and I lived in a townhouse where someone was always running upstairs and locking themselves in a bathroom in a snit. Then everyone would come stand outside the bathroom door and talk through the door trying to calm the person down. One day I just snapped and got in my car and drove away, leaving the door locked and the drama queen inside. And that was the end of running up and down stairs.

When I was 31 I had recently moved to the house where I live now with my husband and both our careers had started to take off. This was a younger and better period in our industry (video games) when developers had tons of money to throw around and schedules were informal. I remember spending long days at the park and taking walks at midnight while discussing work. I definitely miss the freedom and joy of working for creatives instead of suits. Physically I was starting to get a little heavy, but my focus was elsewhere, and I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to my body or diet.

When I was 41 I had just finished the second of my major dieting phases, during which I lost 50 lbs, from 250 to just under 200. Then just when I was starting to feel fitter and better about myself, I had a lupus flare which knocked me completely off my feet. I was nearly bedridden for months, gained all the weight back and then some, and was left with a fear that any time I started to get healthy it would cause another flare. I still deal with that fear.

Today I am physically stronger than I ever have been. I have diabetes which I regret - if I could send a message back in time, it would be to do something about my weight and health before getting an incurable disease. But so far I manage the diabetes pretty well. I would also tell my 20 year old self to go to the ER after snapping a thing in my knee - although acl repairs weren’t really a thing back then, so it might not have helped. But if I had been able to get my acl repaired in a timely fashion my life today would be much better.

My 15 year old self wanted to be an Olympic level 3 day event rider. She wouldn’t think much of me, I’m afraid. But it was her decisions that led away from that career - I had a close family friend who was an excellent nationally-ranked rider before taking a fall which left her with crippling fear and spinal injuries, and I saw how good she was, and how hard she had worked, and how she wasn’t even close to the top of her profession and now had to find a new one, and it seemed to me that it wasn’t worth missing out on all the normal parts of teenage life to risk everything for a dream with such a low rate of pay. Fortunately I had a dream to fall back on - my 7 year old self had wanted to create worlds for other people to explore. And I get to do that today.

Elise4270

Lazy_Bones_85 wrote: »

I'm in for 105 miles in August, Training plan calls for 109 but I had to run tomorrow's run today (July 31) due to an all-day work commitment so I'm not going to punish myself for having to rearrange my days.

I signed up for a 15K on October 19. I am also trying to lose some weight. On top of this, I will be traveling for work 14 out of 16 days from August 4-19, then will be joining the in-laws on the Jersey Shore the last week of the month. So what possibly could go wrong with a high volume running plan, coupled with a caloric deficit, while only being home for what will seem like 4 hours the entire month? But I was able to order 6 pairs of my beloved Saucony Kineta Relay running shoes. And one of the hotels I'll be staying at later this month has a 9ft deep swimming pool so I can act like a child and do back flips all afternoon. I sometimes pick hotels solely based on their pool depth.

This was me yesterday morning acting like a fool:

I use to do that as a kid. Don’t think i could do it without a Humpy Dumpty incident. I am seriously jealous of those legs. Do you cross-train? I have chicken legs and now that I’m not running... they are flabby chicken legs. Here look...

.

Haha! Fix me.

quilteryoyo

@LindsayLou66 When is your mom's birthday? I'm turning 60 on Sunday. That is why I chose to set my goal at 60 miles this month too!

danagettinfit

Goal: 30 miles
8/1/19
2 down, 28 to go.
Just easing back into exercising in general and need to set a reasonable goal so I will hit it and start building up my self confidence again. Happy Thursday all!

skippygirlsmom

8/1 - 0 work ugh!

0 of 80 miles

Thanks for the welcome back! Work has been insane, hopefully it will calm down in the next week. Have a 10 mile trail race on Saturday that I'm not sure I'm ready for but looking forward to it.