DECEMBER 2023 Monthly Running Challenge

SummerSkier wrote: »

...not too sore today.

I'm okay. I was surprised the week one long run was seven miles too. Week two long run is a more reasonable five miles. Perhaps the coach wanted to wake up us participants, and to shake out the half-hearted.

Good day all!

I’ve been commuting back and forth Friday through Sunday to/ from a bridge tournament. Wasn’t able to carve out walking time since it was pouring rain the whole weekend and didn’t want to sit there all soggy while playing.

Just getting caught up now and back to self care.

2.0 miles this morning


Will get caught up on all your posts hopefully tomorrow morning. Missed the chatter and friendship while I was away.

Off to personal training session next and then to work….

Zaxa2021 wrote: »

I'm curious, do you guys cross train or do you primarily stick with running?

This is a Running thread. The topic generally stays on track (no pun intended), but it does stray off to everything else. Probably everyone of these big-time runners here also cross trains with other things. I started back with an intense yoga teacher last month, for instance.

There are copious threads on MFP for HIIT, Pilates, Strength, core, cycling, swimming, even cross training. It's kind of special to have this focused on running, as it usually is the least sexy and highest nerd quotient of all activities. [speaking for myself ] For instance there was recently a scintillating conversation about math.

I'm glad you are here @Zaxa2021 ... You and all of these runners have definitely motivated me to stick with it.

So only another mile to go and I will be at 500 walking miles for the year (my goal for deliberate walking). That and another 60 running miles and I will be at 2023 combined for the year. My apple watch Dec goal is 145 ex minutes for 14 days so I decided to try to run 60 minutes as part of that. Tennis for over an hour a couple days a week and my little 10-12-15 min strength training sessions. I honestly don't call it "cross training" but if anything the little weight and the running help my tennis which I enjoy more than both of them. I enjoy the running esp longer runs for the endorphins and the appetite suppression. Hopefully the weights will help keep my core stronger so I quit injuring myself playing tennis.

Dec 1 5.48 miles
Dec 2 7.02
Dec 3 3.56
Dec 4 5.58 cum 21.64 for the month and 1463.76 for the year

Happy birthday @Scott6255 and @shanaber tomorrow.

Happy Birthday @shanaber and @Scott6255!!

@quilteryoyo good luck with your 10 miler on the 9th! Curiously, what does the T in T-10 stand for?
@Zaxa2021 I work with a trainer once a week, try to get in my walk/run 3 times a week and try to do either another walk/bike/elliptical for 30 minutes once a week.
@chris_in_cal nice 7 miles - amazing you got that done in the first week!
@quilteryoyo tournament was ok. I didn’t play with my regular good partners. I was trying to help a woman in her 80s become a life master in bridge, but she had a rough time of it.

Great runs this month so far all of you!!

I signed my husband and myself up for the 10K in April. The training program for that starts in February. My goal for now is to work on weight loss and on getting up to 4 miles before it starts.

December total: 29.7/164 miles

12/1: 6 miles
12/2: 12 miles
12/4: 9 miles
12/5: 2.7 miles

This last week has been so busy! This is the first time I’ve managed to get to the December thread. My training plan peaks this month at 164 miles. I met my year goal of 1200 miles already, so everything from this month is icing on the cake.

So far this month I’ve had one speed session, 3 x 2 mile repeats. It went really well. I like these longer intervals better than the 400s and 800s. They are almost like a little mini tempo workouts, which are definitely my favorite. These longer repeats are 10 seconds faster than race pace. Overall, I did a pretty good job. Half of the miles were spot on, another two were pretty close, with only one that was too fast by about 10 seconds. For the fast one, I mostly blame the real time pace on Garmin, which, for whatever reason was all over the place early in my run, so I kept making little adjustments and ultimately ran the entire mile much faster than I intended.

The long run also felt really good. I hit the target pace for that pretty consistently, and never really felt like I was struggling. Overall, I am currently in a really good position to get a new PR at my race in January. Now, I just have to get through December. I am mentally struggling a little bit with motivation, which is not usually a problem for me. Things here have just gotten very hectic and I find myself wanting to skip runs just to free up time. In the last couple months of these training plans, my runs get longer and easily occupy one to two hours every day. It would be so easy to skip and gain those hours back but I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not just training for a race. This is also part of self-care, and I need to take the time to give myself an outlet.

Happy Birthday @Scott6255!! Hope you have a great day. Are you able to spend some time with your brother to celebrate, maybe go for a run together?

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Normally I would get out for a birthday run but will pass this year and make up for it next year when I am not completely fatigued walking around Costco.

@Zaxa2021 - When I was running regularly I tried to keep to 4 days running and 2 days of strength training. It was easier when I had a trainer and regularly schedule sessions with him than getting motivated to do it on my own. He taught me the importance of upper body strength for runners as it helps to stabilize your core leading to fewer lower body injuries and ability to recover and not trip and fall. The strength in your arms and shoulders is important too because they help to propel you forward, especially running uphill. Now I try to get one or the other in whenever I feel up to it but when I am finished and back to somewhat normal I will return to that schedule again.

Finally I saw this today in the NYT Running section. Pretty motivating that he is still running a race every month!

"An 80-year-old Bay Area resident who ran a 100-mile race in Illinois last month broke the U.S. record for runners over 80 by over two and a half hours, KTVU-TV reports.

The octogenarian, Wally Hesseltine, completed the Tunnel Hill 100 in just over 26 hours and 22 minutes, beating the previous record of 29 hours and 3 minutes. Hesseltine, the oldest runner to finish the Tunnel Hill race, in Vienna, Ill., placed 128th out of 179 runners overall.

The record, though impressive, is a drop in the bucket for Hesseltine, who has now completed 29 100-mile races, 56 marathons and more than 200 ultramarathons — meaning any footrace longer than the 26.2 miles of a traditional marathon.

Hesseltine said he had competed in at least one race every month for the past four decades to stay competitive. And he has no plans to slow down: He wants to finish an ultramarathon in all 50 states, with 45 already under his belt and another scheduled in Mississippi in March.

Why does he continue racing? Simple: “I still enjoy it, and I want to keep going,” Hesseltine told the news outlet."

Happy birthday @shanaber and @Scott6255 !

Re: cross-training. Always the black sheep, I run 4 days a week, do mobility work and strength train twice a week and do at least 1 pilates session, or 2 if I can find the time, and I also walk or cycle on 1 or 2 of the non-running days, and I also try to do at least a few minutes of yoga every day. Fitting everything in is a struggle, and yoga tends to be the first thing to get dropped as it seems to be the one that does the least for me in terms of injury prevention, BUT my mental health and stress levels are a lot worse when I don't get regular yoga in. In short, I'm constantly juggling and taking risks as to which ball I can afford to drop for a while.

01/12 4.01 miles
03/12 4.03 miles
05/12 3.55 miles

Total 11.59 miles/60 miles

On cross training. I try & do 10+miles on my spin bike in morning & 3+ miles running in the evening on as many days as I can fit in. It if the weather is too bad to get out for run I’ll do another 10 in evening on bike