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.