June 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

June Running Totals (miles)
6/1 – 5.08 group run
6/2 – 6.30 easy
6/3 – rest day
6/4 – 6.13 easy
6/5 – extra rest day
6/6 – extra rest day
6/7 – scheduled rest day/precautionary DNS
6/8 – 6.30 easy
6/9 – 5.03 warm and humid
6/10 – rest day
6/11 – 5.40 warmup, speed work
6/12 – 4.43 group run
6/13 – extra rest day
6/14 – scheduled rest day
6/15 – 2.17 aborted group run
6/16 – 6.10 warmup + 5K race
6/17 – rest day
6/18 – 7.44 warmup, easy speed work, cool down
6/19 – 4.15 easy
6/20 – 5.16 easy in the rain
6/21 – rest day
6/22 – 10.26 paced run
6/23 – 6.31 easy
6/24 – rest day
6/25 – 6.90 warmup, speed work, cool down
6/26 – Life Happens Day
6/27 – 7.67 pre-run, commute, speed work, cool down
6/28 – rest day
6/29 – 8.41 warmup + trail race
6/30 – 10.01 easy

June running total – 113.25

Nominal June mileage goal: 100

Real Goals: Get back to running regularly without injuring myself.

Today's notes – Final report for June. Woke up earlier than I should have, made it to church, and desperately needed a nap in the afternoon. So I didn't get out for a run till about 5:30 PM, which was okay in terms of weather; the sun was no longer high, and the humidity wasn't obvious when I started.

The plan was 8 to 10 miles and assess how beat up I am after running Ganondagan yesterday. First half mile was fairly creaky, then I warmed up to the effort. Initially felt the bruise on my right calf from falling on my warmup yesterday; then that faded. The ache came back later, then faded again. It's on the outside of the calf, on the soleus; but it's a surface bruise. I don't feel it when stretching the soleus. So I figure gentle running to get the blood flowing will help it heal.

By mile 6, the humidity had made itself known. 8 miles wasn't going to be a problem. I somehow missed the turn to my street to turn my projected total from 8.5 to 9.5. Then as I ran through the neighborhood, I was thinking maybe 9.4 would be enough. But at the final turn toward home, I found myself turning away for an out and back to make it to 10 miles.

This is the longest continual run I've done since coming back from the stress fracture. Last week, I ran 10 miles; but it was cut up into 5 and 5 with a recovery interval between. This week, I ran 10. The last 2 were hard mentally. Post-run analysis shows I ran the last 3 miles too fast. Oops. My pace control needs work, but I feel better about my conditioning. I could be in better shape, and I will be in better shape; today's run is part of the process of getting there.

That closes out June. I met my nominal goal of 100 miles, with a bit of room to spare. Early June was scary with extra rest days, but now I can say I did get back to running regularly. I can even say I didn't injure myself, because that surface bruise does not keep me from running normally.

And I felt good enough about how I'm doing the day after the trail race that I registered for a 4th of July race. Four miles, on roads, with interesting hills in the first 2 miles. Don't need to kill it, just need to have some fun.

On to July!

2019 Races:
January 1, 2019 Freezeroo #2 (Resolution Run 7.5 mile) (Mendon, NY) finished in 50:55
January 5, 2019 Winter Warrior Half Marathon (Gates, NY) finished in 1:30:48
January 12, 2019 Freezeroo #3 (Pineway Ponds 5 Mile) (Spencerport, NY) finished in 33:10
January 26, 2019 Freezeroo #4 (Hearnish 5 mile) (Victor, NY) 4.9 miles, finished in 32:28
February 2, 2019 USATF XC Championship, Masters 8K (Tallahassee, FL) finished in 32:53
February 9, 2019 Freezeroo #5 (Tom Brannon 8 mile) (Greece, NY) finished in 55:55
February 23, 2019 Freezeroo #6 (White House Challenge 4.4 mile) (Webster, NY) finished in 28:34
March 16, 2019 USATF Masters 8K Championship (Shamrock 8K) (Virginia Beach, VA) finished in 32:02
March 17, 2019 Shamrock Half Marathon (Virginia Beach, VA) finished in 1:34:21
April 13, 2019 BAA 5K (Boston, MA) DNS - injury
April 15, 2019 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA to Boston, MA) DNS - injury
April 28, 2019 USATF Masters 10K (James Joyce Ramble) (Dedham, MA) canceled registration - injury
May 19, 2019 Lilac Run 5K (Rochester, NY) DNS - injury
May 19, 2019 Lilac Run 10K (Rochester, NY) DNS - injury
May 25, 2019 Sunset House 5K (Rochester, NY) DNS - injury
June 7, 2019 Charlie McMullen Mile (Pittsford, NY) DNS - precautionary
June 16, 2019 Medved 5K to Cure ALS (Rochester, NY) finished in 20:19
June 29, 2019 A Country Mile at Ganondagan (5-ish mile trail) (Victor, NY) 5.41 miles in 49:35 with multiple wrong turns
July 4, 2019 Firecracker Four Mile (Fairport, NY)
July 13, 2019 Shoreline Half Marathon (Hamlin, NY)
September 1, 2019 Oak Tree Half Marathon (Geneseo, NY)
November 3, 2019 TCS New York City Marathon (New York, NY)

Last run for June, 3.1 miles at WC Johnson in the dark. I haven’t gotten much sleep for the past couple of days due to family obligations, and felt really beat up when I headed out, but felt better and better as the run went on. My husband and I ran very easy due to wanting to run the upcoming 5k hard, and also due to rough pavement with no lights. There was enough ambient sky light to see pretty well (my rule is that I only run without a headlamp if it’s light enough that I could see a snake on the trail), but we had one moment when we ran right up on a deer which was standing half on the trail. I could imagine the deer saying, Hey, hey, excuse you. EXCUSE YOU! As it shuffled and finally bounded away from us.

I like that WC Johnson is open until 11 pm, but was surprised to find that someone had locked the bathrooms at 9 pm. Not cool!

I just checked the weather history and the humidity during our run was 100 percent. Ugh, that explains why it felt a little bit like swimming! Temp only about 80 but the dewpoint was 75. My clothes when I finished looked like I jumped in a swimming pool, and my husband’s glasses kept fogging over.

I tallied my running miles for June last night and it’s about 45, which is pretty good considering that I was aiming for anything over 30. My Achilles’ tendon is coming along, which was my primary goal for this month, but still far from back to the way it was. However, I am now able to run 5 miles easy or 3 miles hard without creating a setback, which at least means I can safely race 5k now. I had hoped to be running 10k by the end of June, but the ankle is not quite there yet. And I accomplished my other goal, which was continuing to run regularly in the heat, to get used to it.

I’ve been keeping up reading posts but not writing them - so it goes. Life hit me with a one-two last week that took a few days to pick myself back up from, but at least I’m finally feeling better. Not just back to normal, but actually better than I was before this garbage week. I think that means I learned something from it.

Anyhow, my last run of June was this past Saturday, 3.1 miles exactly at the Lift Bridge 5k in Bayport, WI. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful course, and the weather wasn’t bad at all at 7 in the morning, though I could have done with a little less humidity.

This was a smaller race than I’m used to, maybe 200 people in the 5K. I’m not sure how many ran the 10K and 10Mi races because they were bussed to their starting lines elsewhere. I saw a young guy finishing as we were leaving who might have been the winner of the 10K, but otherwise folks were fairly spread out.

I ran by feel, slowing myself down a couple of times when my shins or hamstring started barking. Thankfully slowing made the pain go away entirely, which feels like a big win. I don’t need to run fast, I just need to RUN.

I’d hoped June would be my base-building month, but instead it was another month of injury and recovery. I DNSed my trail race, downgraded my 10 Mile race to a 5K, and will be downgrading my half marathon at the beginning of August to a 10K. I’m okay with that. I feel more aware of my body’s fragility but also mentally and emotionally stronger than I was at the beginning of the month, which I will take as a net win.

I hit my yoga and moderate cardio goals pretty consistently this month, and made it to strength class at least twice every week, if not three times. And I ran 27.45 miles. I’ll take it. On to July!

June Total: 27.45 miles

Revised June Goals: Lift 3x/week, 30 minutes/day of moderate cardio, 30 minutes/day of mobility. Run when I can.

2019 Races! (bold registered)
January 26: Securian 10K, St. Paul, MN Chip time: 1:05:07
February 16: Half Fast 10K DNS - weather
March 23: Hot Dash 5K, Mpls, MN Chip time: 0:28:39 (*PR!)
May 19: Women Run the Cities 5K, Mpls, MN Chip time: 0:33:02
June 8: PHRC Pensieve 10K (virtual)
June 12: ESTRS French 5K, Plymouth, MN DNS - injury
June 29 Lift Bridge 5K, Bayport MN Chip time: 0:32:51
August 3: Beat the Blerch 10K, Carnation, WA
September 2: MDRA Victory Labor Day 5K, Mpls, MN
September 8: Sioux Falls Half Marathon, Sioux Falls, SD
October 5: TCM 10K, St. Paul, MN
October 6: TCM 10Mi, Minneapolis to St. Paul, MN
October 12: Bemidji Blue Ox 26K, Bemidji, MN
November 28: Turkey Trot St. Paul 10K, St. Paul, MN
December 14: Reindeer Run 10K, Mpls, MN