March 2018 Running Challenge

After I dropped my son off at soccer practice, Kody & I ran 6 miles. I had planned to get 15 in today but between a bathroom remodel, getting my son to practice, and sleeping in, I didn't manage my time well. I switched my run with Sunday so will get a 15 mile in tomorrow. No ITB pain today, so it looks like I'm back to making progress again.

March Total - 15 miles

I wore some new shoes today. A pair of ugly Nike Free RN Motion Flyknit 2017 I bought at the Nike factory store on clearance for $51 on the way home from my race last weekend. Though they're sold as shoes, they're better described as slippers with an outsole. VERY comfortable, lightweight, and only a 4mm drop. I may see if the local Nike store carries these and buy a couple more pair. Since my normal road shoes are 10 mm drop I'll limit these shoes to shorter runs for a while.

What's with Nike's shoe model names? I struggled to remember the model name.
I don't know if I'm supposed to wear socks with these or not. Next time I'll try it without.

12 km Westbrook Hill and Shaftsbury Trail ( Hwy 684 ).
Started in 4cm of fresh snow and it was still snowing as I finished, so probably 8-10cm by then.
There was one set of tracks in the snow from another runner. Because the snow was filling in tracks they couldn't have been very far in front of me even though I never could see them. The reason I say that is when I turned at 6km to head back by the time I got to km 7 you couldn't see my outbound tracks. Which means in just over 12 minutes ( 6mins out, 6 mins return ) they were covered by the new snow. Even though the wind was blowing it was about -7C so rather mild for us. Only felt the wind in the last 2 km, right when I hit the Hill for the final climb out of the valley. That part of the run was a little sucky between the snow and wind but everything was actually feeling better than I expected. One of those days where everything came together some how and was gooooood. The right shoes for the fresh snow with icy patch's hiding under it, The right clothes, gloves and head gear for the weather.

03/01 0.0 km – 0.0km – 140.0 km – YTD 128.32km
03/03 12.0 km – 12.km – 128.0 km – YTD 140.32 km Westbrook & 684



With Jan and Feb being bad months I am about 140km behind my projected YTD distance. Should be close to 280km all ready. Will be hard to make up with out risking injury so probably wise to adjust my projected TYrKm down.

To all those getting hit with the heavy march snow Be Wise,Be Safe as this can create some of the most dangerous conditions for the whole year, Flash Floods, Avalanches, treacherous Roads and trails.

Completed week four of C25K

Today's run was fun. I went to church with my running clothes under my church clothes, left a little bit early to change and then ran across the street to the park for a race in memory of underground anti-communist soldiers from between WW2 and 1963. There were two distances - either 1963 meters, or 3 loops of that for 5889 meters. I chose the longer distance, but had to laugh on the first loop at just how many hills they managed to fit into such a short loop. It was constantly either up or down, so my strategy was to hold a steady pace going up, and push the pace going down. What a GREAT workout!!! I was happy with my time, too. I figure my (unofficial) 5k time was only about 15 seconds away from that PR I'm chasing, and I held that same pace for the whole almost-6k race. So that's encouraging. It's been a rough week for me, and today's run was just what I needed.

I love the design in the medals. It looks like we're running with the soldiers

The foot seems healed after 6 weeks off running. But I need to go slow to build. New job assignment is taking my free time and i come home exhausted. This month will be worse yet. Signed up for a 10k in June. I'll keep it very modest and go with 30 this month.
Bossymom15

@polskagirl01 -- what a cool run! Congrats and glad it went so well for you. Keeping the pace going up hill... amazing.

@Elise4270 - Agreed! The exact words I used were "I'm turning around. I'm just not having any fun!" As much as I love getting the cycling miles in and trying to get around 100 every weekend, I just couldn't do it.

So after putzing around the house not getting anything done, I decided to do the strength training and I felt so good afterward went for a 3 mile run. Now lesson plans for next week and lots of stuff to do around the house.

3/1 - rest day
3/2 - 5 miles + Strength training - W6-C
3/3 - 26 miles cycling
3/4 - 3 miles + Strength training - W6-D

OMG, it is such a beautiful day here in GA! Not a cloud in the sky! It was a perfect day for a run.

3/1: 2.5
3/3: 3
3/4: 4

9.5/50 miles complete

4.2 miles today, OUTDOORS, hooray!

Beautiful sunny day in the 40s. I felt a bit like a lumbering elephant. I've gained a little bit of weight since the end of last year due to new medication and general slacking off. My running clothes still fit, though, so that's good at least.

3/1 - 7.4km
3/2 - rest
3/3 - sick / snow day
3/4 - 10.0km

17.4/115km

The best thing to be said about today's race is that it's over. I got hit by a bit of a stomach bug last night and was playing things by ear this morning. Light breakfast of peanut butter toast sat fine so I decided to go thru with the race, realizing it likely wouldn't be a great time.

The course was quite hilly and was basically a double 5K loop so the second round was a rerun of the first. Despite all the snow we got yesterdat, the trail wasn't very deep but it was mushy and slippery. I overdressed a bit but between undoing zippers and shedding gloves & hat I was okay.

First 2.5km were really tough. Basically straight up to the top of the park. The lack of energy from being ill yesterday hit me hard there. I did a lot of walking on the uphills. Downhills on the back end were okay and I made up a bit of time. Made it around and back out for another loop. I did a bit better on the uphills this time and I think I was sustaining a better pace but then right at 7km I slipped and rolled my ankle and that was all she wrote for speed. Hobbled my way through the rest of the race and got my banana and headed home. Glad I finished... not happy with how it went. My ankle is okay now I'm home. If it feels finicky later I'll ice it, and I've got a doctor's appt tomorrow anyway so if bugging me I will mention it (my family doctor is a keto ultra runner, I'm pretty sure).

The course was beautiful though.




Upcoming Races:
1/1/18 Resolution Run 5K ~38:00 (no official times)
3/4/18 MEC Road Race #1 10K 1:30 & change (will post official time once results go live)
3/17/28 St Patrick's Day race 10K
4/7/18 Jasper Half Marathon
4/22/18 MEC Trail Race #1 5K
5/20/18 MEC Trail Race #2 10K
6/24/18 MEC Trail Race #3 15K
8/18/18 Edmonton Marathon 10K
9/2/18 MEC Trail Race #4 10K
10/7/18 MEC Trail Race #5 15K