Better late than never, right?
Also, since the drawing for New York City was actually in March, that’s a topic for the March Monthly Wrap-Up (which, at the rate that I’m going, will be posted sometime in May).
I want to tweak things a bit and start with some numbers, then I’ll review my progress towards my goals for the year.
February 2017
Total Mileage: 130.10 miles
Average Pace: 10:42/mile
Number of Runs: 20
Last Month (January 2017): 127.77 miles
Last Year (February 2016): 130.19 miles
Races: 2017 Charlotte 10 Miler, February 18, 1:36:24.0
Total Mileage for 2017 (as of February 28): 257.87
Not bad. I’m happy that I was able to increase my mileage over January even with 3 fewer days. I can’t believe I missed last February by 0.09, but 2016 was a leap year, so February had an extra day. I remember my February 29 run as being rather terrible, but it was definitely longer than 0.09. So I’d argue I got more bang for the buck this February.
Let’s review my goals for the year.
Goal 1: 1500 miles
I’ll go with the average miles per day times 365 calculation, so with 257.87 miles over 59 days, that’s about 4.37 miles per day, which comes out to over 1595 miles for the year. Woohoo!
Goal 2: 6 races, with 2 that are 13.1 or greater
I ran the Charlotte 10 Miler, which counts as race #2 out of 6, but it wasn’t 13.1 miles, so I still need 2 of those. The Tobacco Road Half is coming up in March, and then the New York City Marathon on November 5. I’d say I’m on track.
Goal 3: A PR in 3 different races
I didn’t PR in the Charlotte 10 Miler. Bummer. I PRed the Joe Davis 10K in January, so I’ve still got two more PRs to go.
For the non-specific goals, I’ve continued doing a bodyweight routine on all of my rest days for some non-running exercise, and I’ve kept up with the slower easy runs and faster workout runs. I still haven’t done well with the better eating, less Mountain Dew, or working on this blog.
Best Run: February 18, Charlotte 10 Miler, 1:36.24.0 (9:39/mile pace)
It was my only race, and even if I missed out on a PR, it was still my fastest run of the month.
Worst Run: February 28, 6.01 miles, 11:26/mile pace
It was just one of those runs where my legs didn’t actually feel bad, but they just wouldn’t move very fast. It sucks that it was my last run of the month, though.
Overall, it was a solid month. I do think that, considering I wasn’t feeling 100% the day of the Charlotte 10 Miler, my slower easy run/faster workout run routine kept me within a minute of last year’s time, so I think it’s worth it, and I’m really curious to see how it will work at the Tobacco Road Half. My legs still haven’t felt beat up at any time this year, and when I do have a day where my legs were tired, I can usually trace it back to either a race or a bodyweight workout where I went overboard. (I don’t have a good explanation for February 28, though.)
For March, well, there’s this little race, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, called the Tobacco Road Half Marathon…OK, I know, I’ve been harping on the race, but I can’t help it, I’m looking for redemption. Considering (knock on wood) I’ve had 0 ankle problems recently, I’ll be curious to see what I can do. After that, I’ll just do some base building to prepare for my marathon training that should start in July.