February 2021 Monthly Running Challenge

polskagirl01

Today I went to the forest to attempt the new route for the virtual trail race series I found the other day. I knew the screw shoes were absolutely necessary and went digging until I found them (at the bottom of the pile outside what will eventually be my home gym). Found a parking spot just a few meters from the entrance to the forest and the start/finish. It was very icy, and the shoes helped, but it was still really hard (ice plus dramatic elevation changes) and I don't understand how people are actually running these courses in these conditions. But it's on Strava - a group did it in 6 minute kilometers over the weekend. They might have also been marking the course while doing it. So then I come along, and am backing down the slippery hills looking for branches to grab and making sure my shoes are getting a grip with each step. I saw another guy who looked like he was there to trail run, but was walking (and looking at the hill I'd just fought my way up, contemplating how he was going to get down) and said that the section he'd just been to was all ice and he couldn't get through. Another guy I saw was walking/shuffling slowly and concentrating on staying upright. Others on the main path seemed to be walking better

Any tips for running on ice trails? About 2k into this 7.3 km course, I had the thought that I don't know who these people are, but maybe this is too hard for me. And yes, in true runner form, I kept going and finished. You can't tell from my pace, but I really was trying 😆

A whole bunch of pictures

Eaglesfanintn

Another 3 miles today.
2/1 3.16
2/2 3.16
2/3 3.19
Total 9 / 90 for the month
81 / 1114 for the year

quilteryoyo

@katharmonic That is a lot of snow. Stella certainly isn't going to get lost. LOL My Tippy loves the snow. The sitter sent me this picture of her yesterday.

Welcome @CheerMom715 !

Nice run @kgirlhart . I hope you can avoid the skunk. I've heard they don't see well, so if you do find yourself too close, just stand still until they move on. They really do try to avoid spraying, as that is their only defense and it takes a while to replenish their supply.

@rheddmobile Hahaha about your husband's map reading abilities. Great job on the run and being in 5th place. Sounds like that is about where you thought you would be. I love that you all are doing your own series.

@marisap2010 You are correct. Birthday calories don't count! Glad your co-workers celebrated with you.

@polskagirl01 That looks like a fun place to run, if there wasn't any ice. You did great to keep going. You will be ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE before you know it. Even though you probably aren't supposed to, I think I would have ventured onto the edge of the path where there was only snow and no ice.

Tramboman

2-1 6.1k treadmill
2-2 5k treadmill + yoga
2-3 6k slow

February Total: 17.1k
February Goal: 150k

Cloudy, upper 20s F, and breezy today. Some icy patches, but the biggest challenge was running where the wind had drifted snow into the road. Made for some tough footing. Saw plenty of geese flapping around.

Welcome to the group, @CheerMom715 !!!

When you pop in here claiming your December 2021 mileage, what accomplishments will you have made?

PUT THE FUN BACK IN THE RUN!
Return to a good running weight of 175 lbs (second attempt)

mbaker566

we went out for a run. sophie was more reactive. but still did very well.
it was slippery. not everything was cleared. also my garmin cheated me on distance.

SummerSkier

kgirlhart wrote: »

I smelled a skunk when I was getting close to home, but I never saw one. I did see a skunk on my run on Friday.  

I smell them a lot this time of year also and wonder what neighbor's poor dog is suffering. LOL. However the other morning I actually SAW one and it was trying to cross the road in front of me and I was trying to stay as far away as possible. Luckily it decided to NOT cross after all and ran back under a fence into a yard. It's the second time I have seen pepe la pew on runs and both times they were thinking of crossing the street in front of me.... sigh.

SummerSkier

Can I just say after seeing all the ice and snow pictures that I do NOT miss it one little bit!!! LOL.
I spotted these early risers in my neighborhood. Let's think SPRING instead please. Today I finished the first 25 running miles of my RTY challenge. I have never been good at staying in the lines.. Maybe for the next 250 I will follow the instructions. Maybe not! Today was much better pace wise. And it WAS an effort. Yeah my heart rate bumped up to 190 towards the end but it dropped back to 110 in the first minute recovery so I am still alive.

polskagirl01

@quilteryoyo yes, sometimes it was better on the sides of the path, but the snow there was loose and on top of wet leaves and mud, so it also slowed me down. Mostly I aimed for the spots that were a mix of crunchy ice and leaves (if I could see them). But downhill on mostly ice, I probably should've just brought a sled. There I looked for routes with trees to stop my downward momentum because I had little control, and tended to go down backwards because footing was easier. Uphill was also easier.

angmarie28

2/1-2.25
2/2-2.25
2/3-2 -Really struggled this morning, seemed to have trouble breathing while I ran, hopefully Im not coming down with anything

February Goal-6.5/60
2021 Goal-87.5/634 miles

January-81 miles

eleanorhawkins

I have an important public health notice to share....
Listening to a funny podcast while running in a mask can lead to almost choking with laughter and not being able to breathe very well which in turn leads to people either giving you funny looks or asking if you're ok!
Wasn't feeling very motivated before my run, I'm tired and sore and bored. Podcast certainly took my mind off things and helped me plod through todays's 5 miles.
In other news, my Run The Year goodies just arrived and cheered me up no end
I've signed up for a 'relax your mind and body' workshop on Sunday morning at our local theatre. The first part is supposedly self myofascial release techniques with a tennis ball followed by guided meditation. Not so keen on the 2nd part, but it's a morning out and for the price of the 3 kilos of food we are asked to donate for the foodbank in payment it should be worth it just for the tennis ball part.

mbaker566

I'd be more keen on the meditaton lol
tennis ball torture @eleanorhawkins

SummerSkier

Tennis ball is my go to for sciatica!

quilteryoyo

Nice run and cute pictures @mbaker566 !

Love the spring flower @SummerSkier . I think it will be a while before they bloom here. Nice run.

quilteryoyo

2/1 2.02 miles 3.5 mph - treadmill
2/2 2.23 miles 3.5 mph - treadmill
2/3 2.00 miles 3.6 mph - driveway laps

Monthly Total: 6.25/56 miles

It was sunny, but cold today, 34°F with a feels like of 28°F. I found out my elderly neighbor passed away this morning so I decided I needed some fresh air. I walked 2.0 miles doing driveway laps. I thought I was going slower than normal. Apparently not.

martaindale

@cheermom715 Welcome! Not sure where you are in your running/walking or if you have a plan in place, but if not I would highly recommend C25K or something similar to give you a bit of structure and some attainable goals while slowly building you up to avoid injury. Be sure to check back in for all the moral support!

@eleanorhawkins I have a lacrosse ball in my purse just for an on-the-go roll if I have knots! Hurts soooo goooood!!

martaindale

17.2/70 miles

2/1: 6 miles
2/2: 4.1 miles
2/3: 7.1 miles

Another morning with pretty nice weather. About 50 F, sunny, and humidity not too high. I was supposed to do a speed workout, which I loosely followed. My prescribed intervals became very loose fartleks of various lengths. But it's still speed work and I didn't have to pay attention to my watch as closely as I would with the intervals, since I run on the road and not a track.
My family is continuing their C25K journey, currently wrapping up week 5 and making good progress. My daughter is moving up to Jr. high next year and they have a cross country team. We are talking to her about giving it a shot so she can maybe have a school team that she is a part of. With rock climbing, most of the school sports are not possible because of competing practice times. But CC practice is in the morning so she could actually do both. I would like for her to have a school activity, and hopefully something she can stick with as she heads into high school. It would be a good way for her to make friends as the schools get larger and look good on her college applications.
I keep telling her that doing C25K now should make starting CC easier since my guess is that some of the kids who join won't really be running currently. I think she is worried they will suddenly expect so much from her. I just don't see that happening. They are 7th graders just starting a sport and the coaches won't want to scare everyone off on day 1. I think it will be a fairly painless transition for her and will help her stick to running. She enjoys running, but like a lot of kids, she gets distracted by the next new thing pretty quickly and falls out of the habit. We'll see how it goes. My daughter simultaneously wants to do EVERYTHING and can be pretty lazy about actually doing things. So, she gets really excited about something then fizzles out when the time comes to start the activity. But for now, she likes the idea of CC and being a part of a team sport. Fingers crossed it works out.

katharmonic

@polskagirl01 running on ice is just hard. You said you had screw shoes but you could try [url="http://"]microspikes[/url] if you really wanted to run on ice. They are not very comfortable to run for very long on but they do give a lot of traction. Still, downhill especially is dicey on icy trails.

@quilteryoyo that picture of Tippy is hilarious. She's having a ball! And might be slightly crazy Nice job on your walk, but I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor.

Good outside running @tramboman! I said no to trying to run in the roads today.

@mbaker566 the dogs look happy and ready for a treat. Good job on your run, sorry about Garmin cheating you though.

Nice run @SummerSkier, good pacing. I can't believe the daffodil. We are so far off from that.

Hope all is well @angmarie28, maybe just an off day.

@eleanorhawkins glad you didn't suffocate yourself while laughing and running! I'm with you on being more interested in the tennis ball torture than meditation, but it might be very nice! I use a lacrosse ball quite a bit on my feet and various other parts.

@martaindale that sounds pretty typical for kids that age. Hopefully she gives CC a shot, and I bet you are right that she will have a little leg up by doing C25k

katharmonic

Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
02/01/21 :::: 2.1 :::: 2.1
02/02/21 :::: 1.6 :::: 3.6
02/03/21 :::: 5.0 :::: 8.7

I was planning to go in to work today but I knew it would take extra long to get there because of road conditions, and I was going to have to do a zoom meeting anyway, so I just did it from home (mostly I just miss my dual monitors at work, which is why I wanted to go in). Stella was refusing to venture out in the back yard because of the deep snow so I had to take her on a lunch break walk. We did about 2 miles in the woods and it was quite a challenge. I should have worn my snowshoes for sure, but we just trudged through. The snow is deep but very fluffy.

I did not want to attempt to run on trails or sidewalks, and the roads are not easy now either - and narrow from all the piled snow. So I decided to head to the gym and do speedwork on the treadmill. The coach's workout this week was 5-7-3-5 minute intervals with 2 min recovery between. I actually ran into coach at the gym so i felt compelled to do the workout rather than wimp out and just run a nice comfortable pace. I did 10 minutes warmup and about 12 minutes cooldown and the whole thing added up to 5 miles.

kgirlhart

February Goal: 90 Miles

2/2: 5.31 miles
2/3: 6.07 miles

11.38/90  miles completed for February

I ran 6 miles today.  It was an uneventful,  but nice run. It was a little chillier than I expected, but I was dressed good.

Last week I rearranged my rest day because of the weather. So instead of running Sunday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday and Thursday  I ran Sunday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday  and Friday.  I really liked that schedule and I am thinking about switching Thursday and Friday.  But I haven't decided yet.

I need to catch up on the thread. I started reading it last night after I posted my run, but I was pretty tired and decided to go to bed instead.




2021 Races:
11/6/21: Run For 57th AHC Half Marathon

quilteryoyo

Thanks @katharmonic . Tippy IS slightly crazy when it comes to snow. Great job on the treadmill run.