January 2023 Monthly Running Challenge

quilteryoyo

@shanaber Nice shoes. I'm glad they felt good. Great running too. It's funny what you said about the temps and what we wear. Had the wind been blowing, I would have needed more. Also, on the stroll I took with mom a little earlier, I had on sweats and a sweat shirt and was a little chilly at times, especially my hands. Why I decided shorts would do for the run is beyond me, but it turned out to be the right call.

tarun_yadavA

@eleanorhawkins @Scott6255 @shanaber - thanks for the tips guys! 😊
Think I might go for a fourth gel.
I tried jelly babies - don't like chewing while running and then they get stuck in your teeth. Might try a small sucky sweet on this weekends run.

@quilteryoyo - haha, no worries. Not really a geography thing at all. A district within London. Like, I dunno? Same as Flushing is to Queen's to NYC. (Trying to think of an American example there!)

Where are you from again?

tarun_yadavA

Actually on that note...

Where's everyone from again?

Ok let's see if I got this right based on Strava maps and last 6M worth of messages on threads...

@SummerSkier @Scott6255 @kgirlhart @martaindale - Quadruple Texan? (Sounds like a drive thru Burger, that! 😊)
@shanaber - California?
@AlphaHowls - TN?
@eleanorhawkins - Brit in Spain?
@polskagirl01 - American in Poland? (Obviously)
@Laurz9191 - American in Germany?

@quilteryoyo - ??
@Teresa502 - ??

Think that's all the regulars...

SummerSkier

We need to make sure @tarun_yadavA doesn't take rest days. 😇😂😎 Idle minds.... We have a bunch of other "regulars" I think from as far away as NZ. Of course when I say regular I mean folks are not always active every month but we can "feel" their presence somehow.

ps - you can't group all the Texicans together because some of us are as far away from each other as you and polskagirl. 🤪🤣😂

chris_in_cal

1/28 - .6 miles

I took three years off and started back yesterday.

AlphaHowls

@tarun_yadavA
AlphaHowls - TN
quilteryoyo - TN

@Teresa502 - WVa, Va?

spl8

Still moving slow and not going very far. I'm thinking I will try to do two "longer" (for me) runs over the next two days to hit my monthly goal of 50km. We'll see if I get there.

A lot of you mention using treadmills. How do you keep yourself from getting bored before getting your miles in?

@tarun_yadavA - I am from New York (Long Island); used to live very near Flushing, per your US example. Moved to the suburbs to find a better school for my special needs kid.

Scott6255

Cold front came overnight. Extremely cold all week. Treadmill is going to get a workout ☺️
5 miles today.

Teresa502

AlphaHowls wrote: »

@tarun_yadavA
AlphaHowls - TN
quilteryoyo - TN

@Teresa502 - WVa, Va?

Virginia girl here. But I work in Tennessee. I'm in the southwest part of the state that is close to TN, WV, KY and NC.

Teresa502

Yesterday I met some friends for a 6:00 am run. Early for a Saturday but two of them needed to get finished early for other things going on. I ran 8 miles but I was really on the struggle bus. Today it is rainy and cool (42F) so I did a very slow run on the treadmill for 3.1 miles. Rain and a wintry mix is in the forecast for all week but it looks like we will have an open window in the morning for a run.

kgirlhart

January Goal: 100 Miles

1/1: 10.50 miles
1/3: 6.01 miles
1/4: 5.11 miles
1/5: 5.60 miles
1/8: 11.03 miles
1/10: 6.02 miles
1/11: 6.26 miles
1/13: 5.26 miles
1/15: 10.6 miles
1/17: 5.51 miles
1/18: 6.01 miles
1/19: 5.25 miles
1/22: 11.51 miles
1/23: 5.51 miles
1/25: 5.51 miles
1/26: 6.02 miles
1/29: 8.09 miles

119.8/100 miles completed for January

I ran 8 miles today. It was really cold. 34°F at the start feels like 24° and 32°F at the end, feels like 23° plus 14 mph North winds. It wasn't the best running weather, but once I got going it wasn't too bad. I should have run yesterday when it wasn't as cold, but I went home from work Friday morning with a stomach bug, so even though I felt better yesterday I didn't feel like running. I did do some yoga though and that was nice. Today's run was a little shorter than I usually run on Sundays, but between the weather and not having felt well I think 8 miles was good enough. I am not really sure about the rest of the week. We are supposed to have freezing rain starting tomorrow night and maybe lasting through Thursday morning. I won't run if it is icy. I feel like running in the dark by myself on icy roads is just not safe. I should run tomorrow before it gets icy, but 27°F feels like 17°F does not sound appealing. Plus since I missed most of Friday at work, I kind of feel like I need to go in early. I guess I will see how it goes in the morning.

Love the new shoes @shanaber!

martaindale

spl8 wrote: »

A lot of you mention using treadmills. How do you keep yourself from getting bored before getting your miles in?

I have an ifit subscription for my treadmill. The guided runs with scenery, a little history, and the automatic elevation and speed changes let me focus on the run and not the fact that I'm on a treadmill. I have watched TV shows too, but that only holds me for so long. Treadmills are just boring and I try not to use it unless I have too, so mine mostly sits idle until the heat of summer ticks back up.

quilteryoyo

@tarun_yadavA I live in upper East Tennessee, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. Not flat terrain around here unless you are on a school track.

Welcome @chris_in_cal . Nice job starting back after 3 years.

@spl8 You are doing great. You should be able to meet your goal, but don't hurt yourself doing so. As for the treadmill, mine in in my basement where I can watch TV or listen to music. Game shows work well, since it occupies my brain trying to figure out the answers. I also count my steps during the commercials. LOL And, I have a hard time running the same pace for long periods on the treadmill, so I will vary the pace. If I watch a movie or TV show, the older ones seem to work out better for me - like Perry Mason, or Matlock.

Great job on the treadmill @Scott6255 . I know that is not your preferred "place" to run.

@Teresa502 Sorry you struggled on Sat. I don't think we are supposed to get a wintery mix here, just rain. It's going to be a dreary week though.

@kgirlhart I'm glad you are feeling better. The stomach bug is awful. I think you did great to get in 8 miles. And, yes, running by yourself on icy roads is NOT safe. Do you have a treadmill available somewhere?

After church today, mom and I went to my Aunt's church to help with a lunch fundraiser they had. We brought our lunch home, so I didn't eat until 2. It was a rainy, dreary day, so after I ate too much, I spent most of the afternoon on the couch watching TV and napping. I did make myself get up and do a 2 mile walk on the treadmill for my "rest day" exercise.

Teresa502

Jan 1 – 7.02 miles
Jan 2 – 3
Jan 3 – 5.1
Jan 5 – 3.02
Jan 7 – 8.01
Jan 9 – 5.48
Jan 10 – 4.21
Jan 12 – 5.16
Jan 15 – 5.03
Jan 17 – 3.10 (treadmill)
Jan 18 – 5.16
Jan 21 – 10.10
Jan 23 – 5.16
Jan 26 – 5.16
Jan 28 – 8.01
Jan 29 – 3.10 (treadmill)
Jan 30 – 4.30
Total – 90.12 miles

I was able to get in a 4-mile run in between the rain this morning bringing my monthly total to 90 miles.

@spl8 – I usually watch You-tube videos when I am on the treadmill. I follow a few couples who travel the world. I’m planning my vacation this year for Portugal so I’m currently fascinated with watching videos of people who have visited the Azore Islands and the different activities they do. Sometimes, I listen to music to distract me.

@kgirlhart - Glad you are feeling better.

Laurz9191

@spl8 I’ve listened to lots of audiobooks in the past on the treadmill before. That works well if you keep your heart rate low enough to focus on the book and don’t pick too complex of a book that it would be hard to follow while multitasking. My gym doesn’t have tvs that show anything other than advertisements for the gym I am at (I don’t know why this make sense). So I just look at the window (view is of the parking lot and Mc Donald’s of all things) and try to only do shorter runs on the treadmill. At the moment, these runs are a special treat because the weather outside is always so grey and cold.

@tarun_yadavA Yes, Californian living in Germany. But also strong ties to Va @Teresa502 and Long Island NY @spl8. What about you? True Londoner?

I got two great workouts in on the weekend. Saturday was a 13.7 km tempo run and yesterday was a giant 18.5 km loop run. I did the loop run in 2 hrs with 1 gel and no hydration. It felt much harder than with easy access to water but was still definitely doable. When it warms up I am sure I will miss having water much more, but it was freezing on Sunday.

Today I am taking a rest day and tomorrow I want to get about 7 warm-indoor-short wearing-artificially lit but much brighter than outside-treadmill kms in, so I will finish the month 50km over my goal at 200km/125 miles . That’s the plan anyway…

quilteryoyo

Great running @Laurz9191 and @Teresa502

spl8

@Laurz9191, you're 50km over your goal of 200km, and I'm straining just to get to 50km! Wow! Something to strive for, I guess. I hope I can get over 100km in a single month before the end of this year.

Thanks, everyone, for your tips for combatting boredom on the treadmill. I just have to get over the hamster wheel dread on inclement weather days.

martaindale

January total: 93/80 miles run
20.4/20 miles walk
113.4/100 miles total

1/1: 5 miles
1/2: 4.2 miles
1/5: 3.2 miles
1/6: 6.4 miles
1/7: 13.3 miles
1/8: 27 miles
1/11: 3.9 mile walk
1/12: 4.8 mile walk
1/14: 1.3 mile walk
1/15: 3.4 mile walk
1/17: 2.2 miles
1/18: 2.5 mile walk
1/20: 3.4 miles
1/22: 5.1 miles
1/23: 4.5 miles walk
1/24: 4 miles
1/25: 3 miles
1/26: 2.7 miles
1/27: 6.5 miles
1/30: 7 miles

My husband went running today!! I’ve been trying to get him out the door for a while. He had started taking a walk more days of the weeks than not but over the holidays that sort of fell apart. But, he keeps talking about wanting to start running again and today I talked him out of all his excuses and we went out together. We did a mile of 2 min run/3 min walk together, then he turned around and did the mile back to the house and I continued on. We got so much rain here Saturday that some of my usual routes were still flooded so I winged it and it happened to be exactly 7 miles! I love it when I go out without a route planned and it all comes together.

martaindale

Here’s February. Now to go figure out what I’m doing next month!

quilteryoyo

@martaindale Awesome that your husband went running with you today! I hope it sticks. Thanks for setting up February.