The January 2016 Running Challenge

January goal 70 miles


1/1 3.69
1/2 4.15
1/3 3.12
1/4 rest
1/5 3.31
1/6 5.59
1/7 rest
1/8 3.00
1/9 heavy duty yard work
1/10 3.27
1/11 3.38
1/12 snorkel 3 hours
1/13 6.39
1/14 rest
1/15 3.12 (and some more heavy duty yard work)
1/16 4.25
1/17 3.05
1/18 rest
1/19 3.00
1/20 5.51
1/21 rest
1/22 3.20
1/23 the last of eight long work days and I just came home and sat......
1/24 6.25. On the treadmill. On the lanai. Overlooking the ocean. Watching football. Life is good....
1/25 2.76 Have to post the moonrise/sunrise pics from last night and this am: And there was evening. And there was morning. And it was good....



Total 67.04

@shanaber Hobbes is one handsome fellow!
@7lenny7 Great pics.....and tired puppy!
@skippygirlsmom Hope the pt helps and you're back at full tilt soon
@5BeautifulDays Um, yeah. Been there. Done that. Big Superbowl pary on the lanai with roasted pig and turkey in the imu: come on down and get out of the cold!
@instantmartian There is no shame in walking some. 1. Finish. 2. Finish upright. 3. Try not to finish last....but no worries if you do.


Upcoming races:
3/20 Big Island International 1/2 marathon
6/26 SHEPower Virtual 1/2 marathon
11/13 Las Vegas Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon

Ticker is my goal for 2016 and accumulation to date:

I’m jealous of everyone that has a goal race (or 2…or 12) already locked in. I need to get serious and commit to one to be my first HM.

@Elise4270: After seeing your argument for “no work if you get hurt”, I am now contemplating soaking the soles of my sneakers and leaving them outside overnight to “dry”. And I’m OK with the “paying towards @skippygirlsmom shirt plus subsidizing the International shipping folks.

@RunTimer: Tell you what. You do the post-run swim in the 30 degrees and let us know about it.

@MorningGhost14, @aldousmom, @WhatMeRunning, @Stoshew71, @shanaber and yada yada yada: You guys/gals with your 10 mile, 12 mile,16 mile and 18 mile long runs are killing me. Unless I’m supposed to do intervals tonight, I think I’m going to try for a truly long distance tonight. Forecast calls for temps in the 40s and it’s been awhile since I’ve done over 6 miles at a clip.

@snha: Congrats on busting goal!

@whatang: Your tale of the “bad” 2 mile run that turned into 10 has shamed us all.

@rune1990: Congratulations. You are now officially well able to tackle a 5K whenever you so choose.

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
Jan 24: Rest day

no paying for skippygirls shirt I was just an idea person, I had nothing to do with all the work, but thank you to everyone who suggested it.

Stoshew71 wrote: »

Elise4270 wrote: »

And tips on group running social etiquette?

Don't blow a snot rocket right away. Unless you want to establish yourself as a bad *kitten* runner early on. Then blow early and blow often.

@elise4270 I vote for blowing that snot rock and fart a lot that'll be good. ha ha!!! Seriously run with Skip she has no etiquette ... these are things that annoy me about running with her (though it also makes me smile).
1. she high 5s me - alot
2. she farts - alot
3. she talks - alot
4. she sings - alot
5. she points out dogs, cats, houses, car she likes and cute boys - alot
6. she cuts in front of me - alot
7. she bumps into me - alot

so don't be like Skip ha ha! Gotta love the girl.

@honunui thank you - I'm just beyond frustrated. Beautiful pictures. I'm going to Hawaii next month, I can't wait!
@7lenny7 love Kody!!

DATE...............MILES............TOTAL......Goal 30
1/2.....................2.25...............2.25
1/3.....................2.25...............4.50
1/6.....................2.25...............6.75
1/15...................2.35...............9.10
1/16...................2.35.............11.45
1/17...................2.35.............13.80
1/19...................2.5...............15
1/20..............,,...2.5...............17.5
1/24...................2.5...............20
1/25...................2.6...............22.6
1/26
1/28
1/29
1/30
KKL

@shanaber Wow, those beach photos are amazing, they could be straight out of a travel commercial!

@5BeautifulDays Your pic is a nice contrast ^^ But you also have something others can be jealous about: a garage! I'm used to scraping the ice of my car, but last week there was a day where it snowed enough overnight, I had a hard time deciding which white lump on the parking lot to dig out - luckily I found my car on the second try ;-P

@rune1990 It's so great that you didn't let the hill beat you and were able to run all the run bits - well done, way to go!

--

Yay, finally managed to catch up on all that I was missing over the weekend - and now I'm almost too tired to write anything myself...

I just updated my ticker and noticed that I'm already really close to reaching my planned 110 km for this month. Not quite there yet, but definitely doable! More than my "usual" 100k/month seemed ambitious, but I overlooked that January has five weekends when I set the goal mileage...
And I picked a 5k and 10k race as preparation for my HM in May. Well, almost a 5k - I only found a 4.57km race. Weird distance, because it's apparently some kind of round forest loop that happens to end up with that length. But I guess for training plan purposes it should work more or less as well as a 5k race. To make up for the missing 430m, I'll also do the zombies-run virtual race :-)



Now my list of upcoming races lookes quite nice (or scary, depending on the mood I'm in when I look at it ^^):
6. March Derby des Bois (4.57k)
30.3.-11.4. virtual 5k (my first virtual race)
10. April Course des Ponts (--> my first 10k)
8. May Harmony Geneva (--> my first HM)

@Elise4270 You'll probably have to buy envelopes, wrapping material, tape or something like that to send all the shirts, right? Then it would make sense if you use the money for that. Otherwise it looks like you'llhave to fight really hard to get rid of that money ;-p

Goal of 75 Miles for January

1/3 – 3.87 Mi
1/5 – 4.24 Mi
1/7 – 5.32 Mi
1/10 – 3.49 Mi
1/11 – 6.87 Mi
1/16 - 3.47 Mi
1/18 – 5.88 Mi
1/22 – 2.99 Mi
1/23 – 5.43 Mi
1/25 – 5.58 Mi

Progress toward Goal 47.14/ 75

Regarding the extra shirt money and no one wanting it. I don't think Elise should try to return $1 here and there to each of us. If there is anything much left over after all the packaging costs, etc.. Then lets give it to a kids running organization. I don't recall the name but there was one some of the runners here were involved with to help inner city kids get into running, train and experience their first race.

@moyer566 - Hobbes says thank you for thinking he looks regal! He is pretty much a goof. In all the other pictures he had his lip caught up or was otherwise twisting around or making a strange face. Kind of like a squirmy 4 year old who doesn't want to sit still for a picture.
@5BeautifulDays - wow! that is a lot of snow! I am pretty sure Hobbes would be lost in all of that!
@instantmartian - there is nothing wrong with walking/running your HM. The first one I ran my friend had me walk every water station and in between too if needed. I would just be sure to keep to a pace you are comfortable with over a period of time. You will find yourself caught up in the excitement and the adrenaline going and you will want to run and run fast but it won't be something you can maintain for the entire race and you will get exhausted. If you run with a pace group and they are going too fast then drop back and run with others around you going at a pace you can maintain. Just have fun and enjoy every minute of it!
@7lenny7 - if I had that to run through I would be out there on the trail every day too! I wish I had an area where I could leave Hobbes offleash to run. Kody looks so happy and so contentedly tired!
@HonuNui - love the pictures! Are you getting any high surf or rain from the storms that are heading my way?
@Stoshew71 - love the dog video! What a great story. I ran a trail race with Hobbes a while back and it was fun other than that he wanted me to be running at least as fast as everyone in front of us! I did get a 5k PR on that race though
@skippygirlsmom - loved the Skip list! Also I am so glad you are getting in for some PT. Will this be with the same guy (runner PT) you saw before?
@GBrady43068 - this '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!” ' cracked me up!
I am supposed to have surgery on my hand in the coming months and my first thoughts when I was told it was an 8 month recovery were 1) how soon into that 8 months can I run? and 2) does this mean I can't lift weights for 8 months? It never occurred to me to ask if I can still work or drive or do any of the other things you need 2 hands for. Recently talking to the nurse at my doctor's office she mentioned that they usually require the patient to take the 1st 3 months off from work too and my first thought was sweet - I can run whenever I want for however long as I want! Pretty sure that won't be the case though...

I had a great run today - as promised it is getting warm again. In the mid 60's when I went out. The warm Santa Ana winds are back and there is so much pollen in the air you could see it blowing around. Also my plants are so confused - the bulbs are coming up (daffodils in January??) and my fruit trees are already budding out. Hopefully it doesn't result in the flowers and fruit all being stymied when it gets cold and rainy again as they keep saying it will.

Date..........Miles.........Total
01/01.......0.00..........0.00 - total rest/slug day. Did walk 1.5 miles with the pup
01/02.......9.33..........9.33
01/03.......0.00..........0.00
01/04.......7.16........16.49 + Agility
01/05.......4.14........20.63 Treadmill run + Strength Training
01/06.......0.00........20.63
01/07.......5.33........25.96 + Strength Training
01/08.......4.14........30.10
01/09.....12.21........42.31
01/10.......0.00........42.31
01/11.......4.54........46.85 + Agility
01/12.......3.64........50.49 + Strength Training
01/13.......0.00........50.49
01/14.......5.32........55.81 + Strength Training
01/15.......5.47........61.28 - half way to goal on the 15th of the month!!
01/16.......0.00........61.28
01/17.......7.55........68.83
01/18.......4.51........73.34 + Agility
01/19.......5.15........78.49 + Strength Training
01/20.......0.00........78.49
01/21.......5.23........83.72 + Strength Training
01/22.......4.23........87.95
01/23.....12.34......100.29
01/24.......0.00......100.29
01/25.......5.44......105.73



These are my upcoming races, let me know if you are going to be running too:
02/07/16 - Surf City Half, Huntington Beach, CA
02/20/16 - Special Edition Divas Half, Temecula, CA

whoops... goal too low for Jan! I think Ill actually write a plan for Feb so it's a more challenging goal.
Personal goal was really just to get started - so I think I achieved that too.

I usually run at night (much easier to get out of the house when the 3yo is in bed!) but this morning I ran farther than ever @ 5.24kms. Weird though... I am usually a "morning person" so I thought it would be an easier run - WRONG - mentally I was stronger (thus the distance) but wow my body is hurting. unexpected.