April 2023 Monthly Running Challenge

shanaber · April 2023

@AlphaHowls - so glad you are safe! I had been worrying about you! Also @rheddmobile - I know they were in the Memphis area.
There is another storm coming through CA tomorrow night and Monday that is supposed to head across again. Hope it doesn't bring more devastation!
@Teresa502 - a friend of my daughter's was a beachbody coach. Not sure if she is still but if so she could be there too. Where are you exactly? Looks like an island paradise!
@kgirlhart - hope you enjoyed your coffee and rest day! Definitely well deserved!
@tarun_yadavA - you are evil! That gelato looks wonderful as does the location! Dark chocolate would have been better though! Hope you have a wonderful vacation! Are you just hitting up Fort Lauderdale or going to Miami or other locals too?

Interesting about the protein choices and how they make you feel @AlphaHowls and @tarun_yadavA. We don't eat beef much, mostly chicken and fish and lots of veggies. A very occasional burger (last night 1st time in months - don't even remember the last time) and a steak if we go out. I too am trying to figure out what upsets my IBS and what helps. Pizza interestingly, is a big no even though I love it. Also not eating enough is a problem as is eating a really big meal. Have to find the happy medium.
@AlphaHowls - I also make my own sourdough bread. The starter is pretty easy and forgiving once you get it going but you definitely need to take care of it. If you keep it in the fridge you can leave it go between feedings. There are great resources online too. I like the King Arthur Flour blogs about sourdough baking and I have found some good YouTube videos on how to shape the loaves. Oh and they have great recipes to make with the discard starter. I use it mostly for waffles and freeze them to have on hand to pop in the toaster for breakfast.

To start the month I got in a good 4.38mi run today with 2.6mi of walking for warmup and cooldown. It hit 72F here and felt hot but by next weekend it is supposed to be 80F already! I am not ok with that!

Teresa502 · April 2023

@shanaber - I’m about an hour south of Cancun. Heading home today. You had a great start to the month!

Hope you had a good evening in Rome @tarun_yadavA and safe travels today!

quilteryoyo · April 2023

@tarun_yadavA Looks like you are enjoying your layover. I am not a pistachio fan, so would have a different flavor, but it looks yummy.

Great run @shanaber !

Safe travels home @Teresa502 !

eleanorhawkins · April 2023

**waves** hi everyone, I'm home, found April, dunno what day it is haha
Camino was great, though I wouldn't do that route again as it was almost all roads. Glad I took my old trail shoes instead of hiking boots.
Not running for over a week was weird. Then this morning I joined a group recon of the route for this month's club challenge and the first part was more climb than run. I won't be going back to try and get a faster time! Everyone was like 'look at those views' and I was muttering to myself 'just keep climbing, don't look down' lol

spl8 · April 2023

I'm sticking with 60km of walk/running this month. Paused my 10K plan because of lost days due to illness, then injury. Will try to walk and do RT everyday until my knee feels better.

@tarun_yadavA - now I'm convinced that you're trolling me. Aw man, I'm jealous. Maybe if I can get my mileage up somewhere near yours someday, I can indulge like you do.

martaindale · April 2023

April total: 6/115 miles

4/1: 6 miles

This was supposed to be 10 miles. As I was doing my warmup I noticed some cramping in my right calf. Not my Achilles at all, 100% in the calf itself. When I started running it was pretty painful but I figured I should give it a mile or so to warm up. It got better so I thought I was in the clear. I stopped at the park for a bathroom break around mile 2.5 then when I started running again, it was hurting. After half a mile it hadn’t gotten any better so I turned around. It never totally went away over the 3 miles back to where I parked. Then I was sort of limping around yesterday afternoon. Did some foam rolling, put some warming/pain cream on it last night and we’ll see how it feel tomorrow. IDK how I strained it but it’s not happy right now.
Also, it’s officially snake season. I saw a small (maybe 12 in) copperhead and a not so small (maybe 2.5 ft) water moccasin on my run yesterday.
Going to Pilates today. I will be extra careful with my calf and won’t push it if the exercise hurts. But I can still get a good workout for the rest of me.

Laurz9191 · April 2023

@tarun_yadavA Gellato = yes - pastacio = not my flavour. I hope you enjoyed the layover! Have a great trip.

This morning, I wanted to get some interval training in before leaving for the mountains. It has been raining here a lot lately, although today was nice. However, there were some muddy spots in the forest part and I totally ate it. I feel gracefully enough that my Garmin only sent an alert that my pace was too slow. I got right up after sliding down part a hill through the mud and rocks and just continued the intervals. I could tell obviously that my leg was all full of mud (and much to my dismay my shoes) but it wasn’t till I got home that I realised my leggings were all ripped and I had blood all over them. I must have been a sight to see - I leg full of mud and blood, on leg clean

. Now we are in the mountains, hopefully I can stay on my feet here. I had to toss the pants

.

Spoiler is of today’s damage.

So far 10 bloody km out of 175 for April.

AlphaHowls · April 2023

4/1 15.27 miles, The wind is a bully!
4/2 15.56 miles, I am so cold!

My Palm Sunday Sunrise!

shanaber · April 2023

Beautiful Palm Sunday sunrise @AlphaHowls!

chris_in_cal · April 2023

Laurz9191 wrote: »

I must have been a sight to see - I leg full of mud and blood

Tough mudder indeed. Strong run.

chris_in_cal · April 2023

The Garmin Coach 5K plan bumped up the run time this week. It dropped down to two intervals, and 8 min walk/12 min run. It's nice to actually feel the run times stretching out a bit.

April Running Goal: 12 runs, 25 miles

April 2 - 2.49 miles

Current: 1 runs, 2.49 miles

katharmonic · April 2023

Hi all, welcome to April. My goal is to walk every day. I will revisit whether to start tracking and increasing miles but for now, it's just getting out there every day.

Report so far is that yesterday I had a lovely walk with a few of my runner friends. The weather was an insane rollercoaster of thunderstorms in the early morning then when we walked at 11 am it was 65 degrees and sunny. We did a little over 3 miles. Then around 3:30 I walked again with Stella and my boyfriend for about 20 minutes. It was still pretty nice but you could feel the change coming. It then got really windy and then poured down around 5 pm and the temps started plummeting. This morning it was 24 degrees, which was nearly a 50 degree drop from the high the day before. It was really sunny though. I walked with a friend and Stella for a few miles, didn't track but we walk over an hour.

I'm doing well and heading back to Boston for a surgery follow-up appointment tomorrow. Other parts of life are not cooperating (poor Stella was sick and my car broke down to name a couple of things) but trying to keep moving forward one step at a time. I will look forward to a much calmer time sometime soon!

kgirlhart · April 2023

April Goal: 110 Miles

4/2: 11.03 miles

11.02/110 miles completed for April

I started out April with a really nice 11 mile run. It was already pretty warm when I started out at 65°F and it was 72° by the end. But it was pleasant enough. I saw several dogs. A few ran out to meet me, but none seemed aggressive. I saw my neighbor. I first passed him at his house and he waved but was heading towards the door. I saw him again at the park and he had a jacket on. It was kind of windy, but it wasn't that cool. I also saw an older man walking an old dog. I see the dog a lot in the mornings and he always barks at me. The man said he wanted to come with me and commented that he always barks at me but he is real friendly. I also saw a couple of boys playing in their front yard. The younger one looked about 7 and he said high and held out his hand for a high 5 as I passed. Then he asked me what that was and pointed at my aftershocks. So I told him but then said I had to be on my way. He seemed like the kind of kid who could take all day.

Mari33a · April 2023

I'm going to aim for 40 miles and hopefully will get there. My sensible head says go 35 but I want to hit 40. Last month was probably my best month in years as I lost 4lbs and was either running or on my spinbike almost every day bar 3 days

02/04 3.26 miles
Total 3.26/40miles

Scott6255 · April 2023

7 miles this morning. Two HR spikes... first coming around a corner and almost crashed into a fellow runner (without lights). Second one was half a mile from home. I see two glowing eyes coming toward me and loud growling. Turned out it was an escaping little terrier (terror!) on the loose. Out ran it by just moving to other side of street before he gave up. That's one way to wake up in the morning.

tarun_yadavA · April 2023

Morning everyone. Got in a 6K
Been up since 4am... Now to stay awake till at least 9pm!

Because... Florida!

@Teresa502 @quilteryoyo thanks ladies! I think pistachio... Only if gelato. Otherwise, if it's an ice-cream - something else. But do tend to stick to nuts/caramel types.
@spl8 - not trolling. I promise. 😂
@Laurz9191 - thank you.... And ummm, ouch!

chris_in_cal · April 2023

Mari33a wrote: »

Last month was probably my best month in years

That's great. The fire motivates everyone else too....keep at it.

Mari33a · April 2023

02/04 3.26 miles
03/06 3.24 miles
Total 6.5/40miles

@Scott6255 - Sorry Scott while that was a traumatic morning for you, it did make me laugh

Laurz9191 · April 2023

I got a small run in the morning - 5.3km. First 1.5 days of vacation down. I love the forest air smell! So refreshing and full of pine and moss. Not sure about the hills though… My leg is hurting from my fall. A friend thought I must have gotten into a bike crash- no, just running can also be dangerous

.

15.3/175km for April down.

quilteryoyo · April 2023

Glad you are home and enjoyed Camino @eleanorhawkins ! LOL about the hike and just saying "don't look down." You did great!

@spl8 Sorry you had to pause your training due to and illness, but that stuff happens and it's great that you didn't push it and really hurt yourself. I hope you are back to running soon.

Sorry about your calf, and the snakes, @martaindale . I hope it felt better today.

Oh no @Laurz9191 ! I'm glad you weren't injured any worse. Enjoy the mountains. Great run today with a sore leg. I'll bet that water is awesome!

Beautiful pictures @AlphaHowls . Great running, even when you were cold.

You're doing great @chris_in_cal !

@katharmonic Walking every day is a great goal and you are doing fantastic. So glad you have friends that are walking with you. That makes it fun instead of long and boring. Sorry about Stella being sick and the car issues. I hope your follow-up went well today.

Nice running @kgirlhart ! Hahaha about the kid seeming like one that could "take" all day. I try to call that curiosity, which is a good thing. But, also good that you figured out how to not get too sucked in and keep going.

You are doing great @Mari33a ! Congrats on the weight loss and monthly mileage/consistency last month.

Great running @Scott6255 . Sorry about the HR spikes, but you survived to run another day.

Nice jet-lagged run @tarun_yadavA ! Those iguanas look terrifying. I don't think I have seen them when I am in FL. Aren't they invasive and "foreign?"

I didn't post yesterday, due to time constraints. I did do a 2 mile walk on the driveway in the evening.

Non exercise related Sunday activities and some pictures under the spoiler.

Mom and I went to Sunday School, but skipped worship so we could go to my aunt's church and help with the meal they were doing for a fundraiser for the church. After we left there, we went to visit with my niece and her family, whom we haven't seen since Christmas. Mom (and I) enjoyed the great-granddaughters. The youngest - almost 2, took up with mom and played peek-a-boo and read books and the oldest, almost 4, took up with me and didn't want me to leave.

Anyway, it was a great visit and fun. We didn't get home until after 6 pm, when I did the driveway walk.

Me and the youngest, Maislee.

The oldest, Mya. She said the playdough was so smooth.

Me, mom, and both girls.

Today, I got up early enough to get my run in before "starting" the day. I did a treadmill session. I was a little short on time, so decided to walk a mile total for warm up and cool down and run about 15 min faster than normal. I ran for 5.5/1.5/5.5/2.5/2:11 min at 5.5/3.8/5.5/5.2/5.0 mph. That made 1.50 miles in 17:11 min for an average pace of 11:27 min/mile. My avg HR was 135, with a max of 148 bpm. I was pleased with that and may be what I wind up doing when I am short on time, but want to get something done. Maybe it will improve my short distance pace.

The rest of my non-running related day is in the spoiler.

After that, I made some phone calls trying to get some info for my Cousin, left and picked up mom for a GI appointment (They are a little concerned about dysmotility causing her to get stuff in her lungs, but that isn't an issue so far. Not really anything they can do for that, just something to look out for. The meds her primary care gave her for acid reflux seem to be helping.), and did a little shopping.

My check engine light was on, so made an unscheduled stop at the car dealership. He found the code - which took way too long because the computers weren't cooperating, but said it could be a lot of different things, some not too bad and some bad. He reset the light and said if it came back on the bring it in, but they would have to keep it in order to find the real culprit. I say, if you have to plug it in to find a code, it should pin-point the issue, not a general area and could be "a million things." Of course, on the way to the next stop, it came back on, but off again, but then on again. So, I'll probably wind up having to take it in later this week.

We drove to the new assisted living place I want my cousin to move to and gave them a deposit - which is refundable if he doesn't go there, ate lunch, did grocery shopping, and got home at 5:30. So glad I got my exercise done first.

April 2023 Monthly Running Challenge

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