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.