The January 2016 Running Challenge

Love the Hanson's plan. Tonight's run was scheduled easy pace. Took advantage of the 9:55 scheduled pace, and set the TM on some strong inclines. A note to the Borg - Resistance is NOT futile. Got to get ready for those Knoxville Tennessee hills. 6.1 miles, 60 minutes & incline resistance

Double post....so I'll just recycle it to say Great Job to ALL of you above^^^^^

So...bad about checking in, but consistently plugging away at my goal. Actually had my first "comfortable" run of the year this week - one that I wasn't sweating, swearing and crying/whining the whole time! Glad to be past the worst of getting re-started!

January Goal—will try for 140 km, half marathon Feb 7 and I’m behind in my training

1/6—3.89 km or so…first run after being sick…still congested and a bit sick
1/7—3.40 km—still feeling icky so keeping it short. Just ran around my complex
1/8—5.29 km..about to kill my lungs. Sick of the congestion
1/9—5.01 km
1/10—10.48 km-
1/12—4.55 km skipped 1/11 due to it being cold and rainy
1/13—3.64 km
1/14—5.14 km
1/17—3.30 km after a weekend away
1/18—3.22 km
1/19—5.09 km
1/20—5.01 km
1/22—5.something km…the run tracker messed up again and my watch measured almost 1 km shorter than my phone gps
1/23—15.66 km of cold rainy windy raw temps

@Ch1psNQueso - Congrats on the 10k!!

@Cali1616 - That's a great milestone! You're going to be running some serious mileage before you know it!!

@shanaber - What is this so called "heat" of which you speak?? This is unfamiliar...

@Amandajs232 - Glad to hear you had a great outdoors run! I just find it a lot easier to run outside and struggle to go long distances on the treadmill.

Hope everyone in the path of this "Yeti-cane" stays safe. And has a treadmill or something.

I'm about to head out for a 2 to 3 hour long run. I don't know why I call it 2 to 3 hours...I always shoot for 3 hours. Because I missed a tempo run yesterday I decided to do back to back long runs this weekend. That should be a good challenge given how long it's been since I've done that.

Ch1psNQueso wrote: »

That motivation has taken me from someone that had to resort to walking a half mile down the road on December 18th to a running crazy fool that just knocked out a 10k! Feels good. I'm going to go eat a feast to celebrate!

That's totally awesome! WTG!

3.2 miles at Parkrun this morning to take me past my goal for the month: 62/60 miles done. Pretty pleased with that, my previous best month was 52ish. I think my original "stretch" goal of 75 should be pretty doable from here now

@RunTimer: You’ve probably hit your goal by now, so congrats (or early congrats if you’re still a mile or two off..)

@Miffylou: Congrats on goal!

@whatang: Congrats..now go get that 75!

@louubelle16: I think that the rape alarm sounds like a prudent precaution. Honestly, it would be a good idea for you to try to have a running partner as much as possible. Awful things happen to solitary women sometimes 

@Ch1psNQueso: Congrats on the 10K run!

Jan 1: 6.59 cold night miles, slow, around 12:40/mile.
Jan 2: REST DAY
Jan 3: First “official” training day for the HM, first snowfall for a run, 3.51 miles. Some fast intervals mixed in with slower paced runs. 12:10 average pace, fastest split was mile 2 (11:29).
Jan 4: Wimped out 
Jan 5: 3.2 miles this morning
Jan 6: 5.05 miles avg. pace around 12:11
Jan 7: REST DAY. Plan on some walking and weights.
Jan 8: Wimped out 
Jan 9: 50 degrees this morning in Central Ohio! Easy 6.2 miles 12:08 average pace. A little over 1/3 of the way to month’s goal.
Jan 10: Sick..no run
Jan 11: 3 degrees with wind chill, decided to skip run and recuperate one more day
Jan 12: Big snowfall in the morning (needed to leave a lot earlier for morning commute). Night run: Actual temp in the teens, single digit windchill. My “slow” pace is usually somewhere around the high 11s to low 12/mile and it was around a 13:30 tonight..and at times it felt like it was a “hard” pace. Is this a common thing for first-time winter runners? 3.92 miles
Jan 13: Single digit temps this morning, much warmer at night. Slow 3.05 miles, avg pace 12:14 but NO walking…at all. 
Jan 14: Plan called for 8 miles tonight…and a fast interval of 9 min pace for 2 of that I think..wimped out
Jan. 15: Got out there and tried to do some pace pushing as penance for yesterday but my legs weren’t having it. My “fast” was only in the low 11s..bleah. 4.02 miles..officially just past halfway to goal.
Jan. 16-17-18-19: Cold, wimped out.
Jan. 20: Temp got to 18. 3.05 miles. 11:26 avg pace.
Jan. 21: No run
Jan 22: 5.09 miles this morning, 22 degrees.
Jan 23: To anyone who might be a RunKeeper friend: Despite what the app is telling you, I did not develop a sudden urge to take a dive into the 20-30 degree waters of the Olentangy River post-run this morning. I fat-fingered something during my cooldown. Should I be concerned that my thought process on the somewhat slick roadways this morning when I skidded a bit was “Don’t fall and break your face because then you won’t be able to run anymore!” rather than “Don’t fall and break your face because it’s no fun to fall and break your face!”?
5.07 miles

Date      Miles      MTD
------    -----    -----
Jan 01      6.5      6.5
Jan 02      5.1     11.6
Jan 03      5.6     17.2
Jan 05      3.3T    20.5
Jan 07      3.4T    23.9
Jan 09      8.2     32.1
Jan 10      6.2T    38.3
Jan 13      4.2T    42.5
Jan 15      8.2     50.7
Jan 18     11.3     62.0
Jan 20      4.1T    66.1
Jan 21      4.4T    70.5
Jan 23      8.2     78.7

January Running Totals (miles)
1/1 - 10.17 warm up + 7.5 mile race
1/2 - 12.29 long slow run
1/3 - 5.16 easy with fast finish
1/4 - 6.01 easy
1/5 - 11.09 warmup, speed work, cool down
1/6 - 5.95 group run
1/7 - 8.04 warmup, speed work, cool down
1/8 - scheduled rest day
1/9 - 16.48 warm up + Winter Warrior Half
1/10 - 7.46 easy
1/11 - 10.07 easy
1/12 - 8.39 warmup, speed work, cool down
1/13 - 8.02 easy and snowy
1/14 - 8.70 warm up, speed work, cool down
1/15 - scheduled rest day
1/16 - 13.64 with hills
1/17 - 12.05 easy
1/18 - 8.53 easy plus 4 strides
1/19 – 7.94 warmup, speed work, cool down
1/20 – 6.17 easy
1/21 – 9.64 warmup, speed work, cool down
1/22 – scheduled rest day
1/23 – 17.86 easy with hills

January to date total – 193.66
This week's total - 62.19 miles, compared to a target of 62 miles

Goal - 51 to 62 miles per week, per training plan
expected January total - 245 to 251 miles

Today's notes - The training assignment today was 14-18 miles at E pace. I had planned the week to do 18 miles today. I didn't know where I was going to run them until yesterday evening, when I got a FB message from a buddy doing Around the Bay (as in, Irondequoit Bay). That's the same route that beat me up last week, but not the same buddy. Jim is like a metronome holding a steady pace, and he already had buy-in from two of my other regular running buddies. I figured 14 miles with a group that I know will hold the pace easy would be a good start for an 18 mile run.

Sine last week, we've had 4 days of fresh snow. The temperature this morning was 25° F and there was a 15 mph wind from the north. This is more like winter running conditions that are traditional for Around the Bay. We started from a different point on the route than last week, and Jim held the pace right where I expected him to. I went up the steep hills faster than the other guys, then ran a few circles waiting for them. I also had a couple of loop backs for a buddy who is recovering from kidney stones and sometimes in need of rest breaks. In addition to that, we had to alter one part of the route to add some distance because a hike/bike trail wasn't plowed. With all that going on, I was a bit past 15 miles when we got back to where we started. Went for a solo out and back to add distance.

I hate out and backs where I have to watch the distance to make the miles, but I did it. Ended up with 17.86 miles, because I couldn't bring myself to run far enough on the out. But that was okay, because I knew I didn't need the full 18 miles to hit my weekly target. To tell the truth, between the winter running conditions and having the steep hills early in the route today, I felt like I'd run about two miles farther than the actual distance. But that's just the kind of day it was.

The good thing was the pace stayed pretty consistently easy. Strava reports that I went up those steep hills faster this week than last; but I got there on fresher legs because they were earlier in the route and we held the easy parts of the route slower than last week. It was a good run.

Upcoming races:
March 12, 2016 Johnny's Runnin' of the Green 5 mile (Rochester, NY - need to register)
March 26, 2016 Spring Foward Distance Run 15K (Mendon, NY - need to register)
April 18, 2016 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)