December 2016 Running Challenge

Date     Miles      MTD
------   -----    -------
Dec 01     4.4T       4.4
Dec 03     5.6       10.0
Dec 04     5.1       15.1
Dec 07     5.2T      20.3
Dec 09     6.5       26.8

My knee feels good. My shin does not. I had to drive by 3 trails today. I shed a tear....

MNLittleFinn wrote: »

RunsOnEspresso wrote: »

Tomorrow I have yet another new (to me) distance. 18 miles. I get so nervous before new distances. I hit my 20 on Christmas eve. This is really happening, isn't it? I seriously love these threads. It helps keep my motivation up!

That's awesome! I can't remember, when is your marathon?

Sunday January 15th. It is starting to feel real. Like last month it was still so far away

@kristinegift tell your Dad to call me and fix my finances ha ha!!! It's great to have someone who is money smart that can push you in the right direction.

@elise4270 I have my 401K set so that it just goes up 1% every year without me telling it to. I never even notice the difference. 15 years ago I lost everything I had being out of work 18 months. I was in debt up to here and it was awful. I've worked really hard to slowly get out of all that debt and put away for retirement. I know that I could have put that money towards college for Skip, but like Dave Ramsey says "you cannot borrow your retirement". So she has a small college fund. I have a friend who started to work here, I was like get in 401K they match 100% up to 6%, he never did it, I was like do you have a problem with free money? At the salary he got he could easily have put 6% back and it wouldn't have hurt him a bit. He's planning on his military retirement to pay the bills when he retires.... ah I know their mortgage is well over $2200 a month do the math, how's that going to work for you?

Stoshew71 wrote: »

Date Miles today - Miles for December
12/1 6 miles - 6
12/2 4 miles - 10
12/3 12 miles - 22
12/4 REST DAY
12/5 5 miles - 27
12/6 4 miles - 31
12/7 REST DAY
12/8 3.5 miles - 34.5
12/9 REST DAY



Upcoming races:
UAH 8K - 3/6 <<< 34:33 3 in AG
Oak Barrel HM - 4/2 <<<< 1:38:00 3 in AG
Bridge Street HM - 4/10 <<< 1:36:33 3 in AG
PEO-AVN Team Day 5K - 5/4 <<< 19:10 (2.9 mi) 1 in AG 5 OA
Cotton Row Run 10K - 5/30 << 44:57 PR
Firecracker Chase 10.2 miler 6/25 << 1:20:22 1 in AG & 15 OA
Huntsville Half Marathon - 11/12 << 1:35:55 2 in AG & 25 OA
Rocket City Marathon - 12/10


I go pick up my packet today. Last day before RCM. It's becoming real.

Awesome. So excited for you. I remember that feeling right before Columbus. And I know exactly how you will feel when you CRUSH it! You so got this!

Well an unexpected migraine as set me back two running days. But I'll be back when I'm healed.

December Running Totals (miles)
12/1 – 8.08 warmup + speed work
12/2 – rest day
12/3 – 10.13 warmup + 5K race + easy 30 minutes
12/4 – 8.07 easy
12/5 – rest day
12/6 – 5.96 warmup, speed work, cool down
12/7 – 6.00 easy
12/8 – 3.78 easy
12/9 – 3.80 course preview

December total to date – 45.82

Nominal Challenge Goal – 150 miles
Real Goals: Finish transition to healthy running. Use Club Nationals as a learning experience on managing air travel to a race. Build a base toward Boston training. Avoid re-injury

Today's notes – The team went out to Apalachee Regional Park to look at the course. 50+ Masters men run 8K, consisting of a big loop, a slightly less big loop, a small loop, and a stretch to the finish line. I got 0.35 mile on the team jog to the start, then ran easy for the big loop, small loop, and finish line stretch, plus enough extra beyond that to make 30 minutes. 3.80 miles in 30:03 came out to an average pace of 7:54 per mile; I expect to run that terrain faster tomorrow.

You don't think about hills in Florida, but Tallahassee is not all that far from the Georgia line. There were some little hills to run near the hotel yesterday, and there is a little hill to go up and down on the course plus some gratuitous bumps like an architect would put in for aesthetics. It is very well groomed, and I won't have any trouble running it in road shoes. Yeah, the whole team says I should wear spikes; but I don't own any. I'll have to buy some if I keep running cross country.

After the preview, I walked over to take a picture that looks like I'm in Georgia, a live oak tree with Spanish moss and part of the course where red clay shows up:




2016 races:
January 1, 2016 Resolution Run 7.5 mile (Mendon, NY) finished in 53:58
January 9, 2016 Winter Warrior Half Marathon (Gates, NY) finished in 1:30:59
March 12, 2016 Johnny's Runnin' of the Green 5 mile (Rochester, NY) finished in 32:32
March 26, 2016 Spring Forward Distance Run 15K (Mendon, NY) finished in 1:05:24
April 18, 2016 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA) finished in 3:23:01
April 24, 2016 Flower City Challenge Half Marathon (Rochester, NY) finished in 1:36:50, targeting MP
May 15, 2016 Highland Hospital Lilac Run 10K (Rochester, NY) DNS - injury
June 19, 2016 Medved 5K to Cure ALS (Rochester, NY) DNS - recovering from face plant
July 16, 2016 Shoreline Half Marathon (Hamlin, NY) finished in 1:31:11
August 13, 2016 Bergen Road Race 5K (Bergen, NY) finished in 19:07 (5K PR)
September 4, 2016 Oak Tree Half Marathon (Geneseo, NY) finished in 1:31:37
September 18, 2016 Rochester Marathon (Rochester, NY) DNF a mile from finish
October 15, 2016 Finish Strong 15K (Hilton, NY) DNS – Achilles tendonitis
October 22, 2016 Scare Brain Cancer Away 5K (East Rochester, NY) DNS – Achilles tendonitis
November 24, 2016 Race with Grace 10K (Hilton, NY) finished in 42:38, First Senior (60+) Male
December 3, 2016 Freezeroo #1 (Don Curran Memorial 5K) (Gates, NY) finished in 20:06
December 10, 2016 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships 8K (Tallahassee, FL)

2017 races:
January 1, 2017 Freezeroo #2 (Resolution Run 7.5 mile) (Mendon, NY)
January 7, 2017 Winter Warrior Half Marathon (Gates, NY)
January 14, 2017 Freezeroo #3 (Pineway Ponds Park 5 mile) (Spencerport, NY)
January 28, 2017 Freezeroo #4 (Hearnish 5 mile) (Victor, NY)
February 11, 2017 Freezeroo #5 (Valentines Run "In Memory of Tom Brannon" 8 Mile) (Greece, NY)
February 25, 2017 Freezeroo #6 (White House Challenge 10K) (Webster, NY)
April 17, 2017 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)

@stoshew71 and @MobyCarp Good luck with your races!

12/1: 6 miles with Pacers crew +lifting
12/2: 2 miles
12/3: 8 miles with the Saturday crew
12/4: 5.3 miles on trails +lifting
12/5: 6 miles
12/6: 2 miles + lifting
12/7: 6 miles
12/8: 6 miles
12/9: 1 mile

Keeping the streak alive! 1 dark, cold little mile after spending 2+ hours at the car dealership and getting all the details about a new-to-me car. I test drove a 2013 Honda Civic, got all the financial details, put a $250 good faith down payment on it, and I am going back tomorrow to see it in daylight and drive it again. I can't even buy it for 4-5 days because I need to transfer my insurance from Iowa to New Jersey, but once done, this car will likely be mine! I'm currently driving a '97 Civic with a manual transmission, and my clutch leg just cannot do it anymore; I can barely drive after regular runs or hard gym sessions, and I can't drive at all after a long run (2.5+ hours) which is incredibly inconvenient. So while I'll miss tootling around in a stick shift (more fun in Iowa though than in the overcrowded traffic of NJ), I'm excited to get into something from this decade!



Winter/Spring 2017 Races:
1/8/17: NYCRUNS Cocoa Classic 10 mile
2/18/17: FebApple Frozen 50 - 10 mile option
3/12/17: E. Murray Todd HM
3/18/17: Looney Leprechaun 10k (trail)
3/26/17: Philly Love Run HM
4/1/17: NJ Ultra Fest HM (trail, maybe)
4/9/17: Rutgers UNITE HM (maybe)
5/14/17: Delaware Marathon Running Festival HM
5/21 or 5/28: Cleveland or Vermont City Marathons (maybe)

Just checking in. I've ran 12 of my 45 goal. I better get moving!

All this talk about college football. I root hard for my Bison! North Dakota State...winners of 5 national championships in a row with a great chance to get #6 this fall!! They're ranked #2 in the nation at the moment.

@juliet3455 any time I think it's getting too cold to run outside here, I'm going to think of you and shame myself to get out there. I will be doing some indoor track running once my daughter comes home for Christmas break since she won't run outside in Minnesota winter. And I agree, -40C/-40F wind chill is definitely too cold for running. We're supposed to get down to -15F wind chill next week.

@RunsOnEspresso That's getting up there in mileage!

@NikolaosKey glad your quads are feeling better. When you first mentioned the pain I thought it was going to be a rather serious injury!

@Stoshew71 run well tomorrow!

@HeatherMN have a pint for me!

@BeeerRunner great job not only getting out in the cold, but doing so while out of town!

@virkati Congrats on the offer!! I don't put anything on Kody's paws. Was there snow on the ground when you were out? Sometimes snow will collected on the hair between the toes and be very uncomfortable. It's good trim the hair back so none is sticking out below the pads to minimize this. If that's not it, it could be he just doesn't like the cold. I'd let the dog tell you if he should be out or not be his actions. I can't recall what breed he is to know if single digits might be too cold. Labs were bred for being able to swim in freezing water so I don't get too concerned about Kody getting too cold, but I do keep an eye on him and if he seems like he's not into it like normal, it's time to take him inside.

I did just receive a product called Musher's Secret which I intend to put on his paws before tomorrows run. My main concern is keeping a barrier between him and the salt since we do a lot of running on the road, but it's supposed to be an all around good thing for dogs. I generally will run outside with Kody down to zero degrees, but just like i short runs when it gets to hot, I'll do it too when it gets too cold. Tonight was 11F, with a 2F windchill and he was fine. If it were to get to 0F with wind, I'd start cutting back the miles. It'd have to get to -15F wind chill or colder I think before I'd leave him at home because of the cold.

@patrikc333 the key is to get some thing, almost skintight gloves to put on first, then put the mittens over them. Being skin tight is much like a base compression layer. It traps a layer of air which then stays next to your skin. As sensitive as it sound like your hand are, you might consider chemical hand warmers or perhaps electric mittens.

@greenolivetree I hope the Mayo Clinic can work their magic/science for your husband!
@bmelb1 did you enjoy the run in the snow? That's my favorite time to run.
@RespectTheKitty If you worked out, be in inside or outside, you did NOT wimp out!

Did my planned 7 miles yesterday as I'm off to see my folks today and wouldn't have time. Really really struggled after mile 5. All I can think is that I ran Thursday as well and I'm just not used to that. As part of the run, I got bored of the flat so ran up into the woods. I was impressed to notice that I ran at least halfway up the hill to the top. I was a bit weary as I didn't have my trail shoes on and it was muddy, but my road shoes coped fine. The other thing that probably caused me problems was pace - I think I was way too fast for the first two or three miles, but I was enjoying it!!!

Starting to think seriously about the HM (or sneaky 15m) in April. My strength training plans using Stronglifts 5x5 may be going out the window as when I last saw my sports therapist we talked about building up the muscles of my glutes and hamstrings which are weaker than they should be, and he was going to send me a training plan. So I will work on that first. Plus I'm getting used to running alone outside in the dark.

12/1- 7.04
12/2- 4.01
12/3- 10.01
12/4- REST
12/5- 5.32
12/6- 5.01
12/7- 3.01
12/8- 8.04
12/9- 5.0
12/10- 11.0

Total: 58.43

Nominal mileage goal: 100 miles
Real goal, get into the swing of Marathon training, and get used to doing 3 days a week of some strength/core while running 35+ MPW

Today's notes: Today's assignment was to runn 11 miles at 10:40 pace. That did not happen, I ran the 11, but pace was 10:15. In my defense, I ran faster because, well..... -5F (-20C) and WNW 3mph winds made for some chilly running. Run felt good, despite my average HR ending up at 157. it was definitely a chilly one, and by the lasr mile and half mile, I, for the first time, and to tell myself a little mantra...more miles makes a better marathon....because at that point, I was pretty well a meat Popsicle, despite not actually ever feeling cold, the temps just made for getting pretty tired.

Date:: :::: Miles :::: Dec total (goal = 80)
12/01/16 :::: 0.0 :::: 0.0
12/02/16 :::: 2.6 :::: 2.6
12/03/16 :::: 3.1 :::: 5.7
12/04/16 :::: 6.0 :::: 11.8
12/05/16 :::: 3.3 :::: 15.0
12/06/16 :::: 2.4 :::: 17.4
12/07/16 :::: 2.4 :::: 19.8
12/08/16 :::: 3.7 :::: 23.5
12/09/16 :::: 0.0 :::: 23.5
12/10/16 :::: 7.0 :::: 30.5

Yesterday was a rest day from running but took a long hike with Stella in the falling snow. Last night I had a fun holiday party with lots of excess eating and drinking so this morning came around a bit too quickly for my taste. I managed to drag myself out for the 8 am long run with my running group. It was chilly and snowy and I was dragging. My butt is still cold. But it's done and now I'm ready to laze around as much as I can the rest of today. which may not be as much as I want, because Stella is surely going to want some exercise in short order.