Monthly Recap and Weekly Check-In

February Miles: 71.23
Average Pace: 9:07

Overall, I'm a little disappointed with the number of miles that I ran in February, but I also have to take into consideration stress and exhaustion from work. I missed one long run completely and a couple of other runs due to some pain in my foot and a lot of pain in my shoulder. Hopefully work will slow down a little bit for the next couple of weeks and I'll be able to really stick to my training through March and April. Some good news will follow my weekly check in.

2/26/18-3/4/18
Miles: 19.42
Average Pace: 8:59
Notes: Did a split workout, long run felt great

While I did miss one workout this week and skipped upper body lifting due to ongoing shoulder pain, I felt the runs I did complete were mostly quality runs. On Tuesday, I ran 2 miles as a warm up for a lifting session an then put in another 3 miles after work. My long run (which got pushed to today due to the #bombgenesis) went really well. I also discovered that my GPS watch is not tracking my miles as accurately as it has in the past. For example, my long run today should have finished 8 miles at the DC border, but I had to run up to and past my apartment to hit 8 miles. I could even see on the map that the GPS was cutting corners and sometimes not going the whole way to turn around points. Most of the time, the milage difference doesn't really matter; however, it is mentally frustrating to know a) you are giving a solid effort and b) that a route is a certain length when that doesn't match up with what your tech is telling you. I'm hoping an update will fix some of these issues.

Ooops...

If you didn't notice, I missed a weekly check in and am late to post this one. I'll dig into why that is after my miles and times

2/12/18-2/18/18
Miles: 19
Average Pace: 9:12
Notes: Should have been an easy week and some how ran 5 days in a row. Rough long run.

2/19/18-2/25/18
Miles: 7.08
Average Pace: 9:08
Notes: no long run, pain in neck/arms/shoulders, pain in toe/arch of foot.

The short story of these two rough weeks is exhaustion--both physical and mental. If I'm being honest with myself, the overworking probably began around the 10th after I ran an 8K race and followed it up with a 10 mile run the next day. I had planned on using the 12th-18th as a recovery week, but I some how ended up running 5 days in a row with the culmination being a really crappy 6 mile long run. On the six mile run, I felt my body tensing up and fighting me most of the way. I was feeling mentally worn out from my long day of work/class (Wednesdays) and preparing for a group meeting presentation. The weather on the 20th and 21st was close to 75˚F, so I made sure to log some miles in outside. Unfortunately, I think I pushed myself too hard on those runs because it felt like I hit a wall on Thursday...and then I kept running into it until today. Not literally running though--today is the first day I've felt okay enough to finish a run since last Wednesday. I would rather have a rough two weeks now and have to take a couple of days off than get injured and miss one of my up coming races. Here is to keeping well-hydrated, rested and injury free through March!

Race 2 of 12: February Race Review

For my second run of the year, I decided to stick with a DCRR race--the Langley 8K. Again, they put on a nice, low key race. They had volunteers directing people on the course and some post race snacks. The course was a mix of residential roads and a running path and was mostly rolling hills. It has been a while since I've had a run with continuous climbs and descents so the race was a nice challenge. I honestly wasn't quite sure how I was going to pace an 8K. I've run a ton of 5K and half marathons but not many, if any, distances between the two (well, besides one 6.6K about 5 years ago). I initially thought a 9 min/mile pace would be doable and moderately challenging.

As the race started, I managed to keep my pace in check but I was feeling pretty comfortable at an 8:30 pace. Even with the rolling hills, I was able to push myself and maintain my pace. The only things I struggled with and want to continue working on was the decrease in my pace going up the last hill and my lack of "kick."

Weekly Check-In

2/5/18-2/11/18

Miles: 24.97
Average Pace: 9:04
Notes: No speed work, race and a solid long run on tired legs.

The Washington Monument through the fog.

Definitely a little late on the update this week--life has been a little busy recently. I ran my February race and will have a separate recap post for it soon. I felt really good about the runs and workouts I got in this week. Thursday morning, I woke up groggy and sort of achy and my biggest concern was that I had caught the nasty flu that is making it's rounds. Luckily, some matzo ball soup and a night of rest helped to recharge me. I wasn't sure how far my long run would be or if I would be motivated enough to complete it this morning between the rain and possibly sore legs. I was able to finish the full 10 miles even with some occasional downpours and the last mile being an uphill battle. I also got some great pictures of some of the monuments in the fog.

Fog sits over the Tidal Basin with the Jefferson Memorial in the distance.

This week I am giving a gold star to my parents--specifically my mom. Both of them came down to visit this weekend and my mom bleached and cut my hair. It looks really great--not that it doesn't normally look good. I definitely needed a couple of inches cut off and my mom blended it really well with the hair I really damaged last summer. We went out for dinner on Saturday to Raku and it was a pleasant experience. Sometimes (really most of the time) my family has a hard time picking a place to eat which makes the entire experience...challenging. So anytime we can have a relatively stress/conflict free dinner, its a plus.

There will be another post coming soon recapping the Langley 8K!

Weekly Check-In and Monthly Recap

Better late than never, so lets quickly recap January and then move on to the week's check in.

January miles: 78.31

Average pace: 9:03

Number of long runs: 2

Longest run: 8 miles

Overall, this month was very mediocre. I managed to stay consistent with getting my runs in but missed at least one long run and had to cut any speed work for a week. I'm not sure why I missed the first long run and was out of town/dealing with some back pain when I missed the second one. In the middle of the month, my energy level plummeted and I took two days off of work to really get myself back up to speed and feeling healthy. Also, the last thing I wanted to do was potentially pass anything flu-like to my lab mates. I do realize that I'm still over 12 weeks out from the Frederick half marathon (and 8 from the Cherry Blossom 10 miler) so I would much rather have an easier week occasionally than force myself to go hard and injure myself.

How I feel when my alarm goes off at 5am.

Weekly Check-In for 1/30/18-2/4/18

Miles: 22

Average pace: 9:05

Notes: Still dealing with a little bit of back/hip tightness so no speed work, long run went okay.

Garlic parmesan and honey sriracha lime wings so I can eat like I'm watching the super bowl.  

Anytime I miss even one long run, I question my ability to do the next one--even if the milage is less. It usually doesn't prevent me from running, but I will procrastinate getting out the door. While this morning's run wasn't as breezy as I would have liked, I was able to quickly get in a groove and squash the negative self talk. And that ties into my happiness demerit for this week. I let a lot of stress wear me down and made my mood worse by talking to myself in a demeaning way. Luckily, I got out of the funk I was in. And I made some tasty wings today.

Weekly Check-In

1/22/18-1/29/18

Miles: 13
Average Pace: 9:09
Notes: did mile repeats on the treadmill and some biking, no long run

This week unexpectedly needed to be an easy week for two reasons. First, the sort of bullshit reason is that I was out of town from Friday night to Sunday and didn't really have a place to do my long run. Second, and the more legitimate reason, I did something to my back at some point of the past 10 days and didn't want to injure myself. I really like what Monica from "Run Eat Repeat" says about injuries and lingering pain--if you listen to your body when it whispers, you won't have to hear it scream. I'm far enough out from the 10 miler and half marathon that missing a long run and having a lower milage week isn't going to ruin my training or racing plans. Also, I was able to comfortably do an 8 mile long run last week so I don't feel like I'm fighting for distance. Luckily, I ran into a friend from college who happens to be a physical therapist and she gave me some stretches to try that should loosen up my back/glutes.

The Six and the reason I was out of town for the weekend. From left to right, Dan Murphy, Dave Antolik, Greg Joseph, Jim Donovan, Chuck Olson and Rob Hertweck.

This week I'm giving a gold star to The Six. The Six is a group of friends who are musicians (three of whom were my professors in undergrad) and play some amazing covers together a couple of times a year. They have been having these shows for about 7 years and it's aways a blast to hear them play together. I was really unsure of if I wanted to make the trip to Indiana, PA just for this show, but it was definitely worth the drive.

Weekly Check-In

1/15/18-1/21/18

Miles: 21.19
Average Pace: 9:09
Notes: Did a tough interval workout on the treadmill, getting better at making my easy runs actually easy and a long run success.

I want to briefly talk about my long run this week. I ran a little over 8 miles at a 9:14 min/mile. Before the run, I wasn't sure if how I would feel during the 8 miles and had sort of decided to just get the miles in even if I had to slow down. I did my best not to pay too much attention to my watch for most of the run, worrying that seeing my pace would discourage me. I really ran by feel. Around 50 minutes into the run, I decided to push myself harder for a minute every 8 minutes. I completed the first repeat of this and felt good. The boost of energy allowed me to pick up the pace for the last 1.2 miles even though it was primarily uphill. My last 1.2ish miles was ran at an 8:50 pace. I have no idea where this little kick came from but I'm not going to complain about it. This also drives home the lesson (at least for me) that getting out the door and running is one of the biggest hurdles.

Pizza from Comet Ping Pong

And now for a happiness gold star: allowing myself to relax and enjoy the weekend but still keeping on top of my running. Tim and I went out Friday night and I knew I wasn't going to have the energy to do a long run Saturday morning. We lounged around in the following morning and then went to get lunch (Comet Ping Pong pizza is delicious) and browse a book store. I treated myself to a new book and when we got back, we eventually got a short run in before the sun went down. I sometimes struggle with relaxing and feeling like I constantly need to be doing something productive. Leaving go of that for a few hour was quite pleasant.

Also, I am technically a government employee. I have no idea if I will have work tomorrow or not at this moment. If I don't have work, maybe I will work on a bonus blog post for this week.

Weekly Check-In

1/7-1/14

Miles: 16.6
Average Pace: 8:53
Notes: sort of an easy week, intervals, easy miles and race 1 of 12 for the year.

Sundays are for stretching.

This week was a little odd because I wasn't feeling well in the middle of the week which caused me to miss a run, and I decided to get my January race in on Saturday. I didn't get a long run in, but I'm glad that I made up some miles today even after racing yesterday (sort of). I also made sure to do my weekly body weight exercises. Even though it is only January 14th, the lack of light and weather forcing me to treadmill running is starting to drive me crazy.

Happiness demerit: I'm giving myself a happiness demerit for this week for not adjusting my schedule to get some runs in outside while it was in the 50s last week.

Race 1 of 12: January Race Review

Today I ran my first race of the year--the JFK 5K that was put on by the DC road runners. They put on about 20 races throughout the year that are open to anyone in addition to some races for members of the club. I definitely enjoyed this race--it was low-key but well run.

So how did the race go?

Considering I wasn't quite planning on really racing this race, it went okay. For the most part, I do pretty well pacing myself for longer races, but am terrible at pacing myself during 5Ks. I went out to fast and did positive splits. Ooops. It also doesn't help that the 2nd half of the race was slightly uphill and there was a headwind, but I definitely need to work on the pacing for future races.  Here is to February's race (still trying to pick one) and making some improvements throughout the year.

Weekly Check-In

I'm still trying to figure out what exactly to post and how often I want to post (besides this weekly check in). Things may be weird until I get a system down.

I really enjoy manually logging my miles. This lives on my fridge.

Weekly check in 12/31/17-1/6/18

Miles: 20.5

Average pace: 9:05 (ignore the writing on my log--I'm bad at math right after a run)

Other notes: interval work out, easy miles

I had to do my long run on a treadmill because of the #bombcyclone. I know many runners from farther north (and myself at one point) will scoff at my choice to run inside on a sunny, clear-weather day even if the feels like temperature is -3˚F. However, I realized yesterday that I didn't have the appropriate equipment to run with this combination of wind and temperature. A pair of windbreaker pants would have definitely been needed over top of tights, and I recently left my nice running gloves on the bus (womp-womp). I also have some skin issues that the cold would have irritated even if I slathered on vaseline. I may have lost my mind some (I know, I know--its not a far trip), but I finished my miles.

Treadmill crazies

The safer/healthier/less-frostbite-inducing choice gets the happiness gold star of the week. I have been listening to the "Happier" podcast recently, and every week the hosts give out happiness demerits and gold stars at the end of the episode. The goal of this exercise is to recognize things or actions you are doing to increase or compromise your happiness. I'm going to try to give myself (or something) one or the other every week. I am able to do both this week so my happiness demerit is being really hard on myself for going to the gym at night instead of in the morning--even though I still got in all of my workouts. I prefer to work out in the mornings so my evenings are free. I also feel more productive in lab. Between the cold and recovering from the holiday non-schedule, my sleep schedule took a hit and the 5 am wake-up was not happening.

2018 Word: Challenge

Every year, my friend Jim Donovan asks people to pick a word to sum up what they want to invite into their lives for the upcoming year. For 2018, my word is challenge. 2017 was a challenging year for me for a couple of reasons, but those challenges were not necessarily ones I chose to take or I didn't face them head on. In 2018, I want to give myself challenges to work on throughout the year and make a more conscious effort to address the challenges that I don't choose in better ways.

So, what challenges have I picked out for myself?

Well, you are reading one now. For several years, I have tried (and failed) to start a blog on any topic. One of the challenges I am giving myself this year is to blog once a week. What will this blog be about you ask? That is challenge number two. I want to run more races so a goal for 2018 is to run a timed race that is 5k or longer each month. I plan on using this blog to keep myself accountable to my training schedule, racing once a month and, maybe, I'll share some other fun stuff as well. I also signed up for...THE KING CRAB CHALLENGE!

This is a series of races in Maryland and it will help me cross off May, June and October for my timed races. There is also some pretty serious running bling that comes along with completing the challenge (a 7in, two pound medal!). In May, I will run the Fredrick Nutjob--which is a 5K followed by a half marathon. The Baltimore 10-miler is in June and I am planning on running the Baltimore Marathon in October. I also am signed up to run the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in April. Lots of racing, but I am definitely looking forward to the races and sharing how my training is going.

There are a few other challenges I am working on for this year, but I will talk about those when I get them moving.