Month: April 2018

Yeah, this is a new record for longest delay in posting a monthly wrap-up. There’s not much to say, because my month effectively ended on January 17.

I’m also not sure what to do with part of my Monthly Wrap-Ups this year, since there isn’t really anything to report as far as my 2018 Goal until November 4. I’ll figure out something, I guess.

Numbers never go out of style, right? (Or maybe they’re just never in style.)

January 2018
Total Mileage: 30.96 miles
Average Pace: 11:22/mile
Number of Runs: 9
Last Month (December 2017): 89.44 miles
Last Year (January 2017): 127.77 miles
Races: None

Well, it was basically half of a month, and I cut back on my distance because I was afraid of aggravating my hernia. Also, I guess I should mention that I had registered for the Charleston Half Marathon on January 13, but decided to defer. I heard it was insanely windy that day, so hopefully next year will have better weather.

Best Run: January 16, 3.11 miles, 10:46/mile average pace

This was my last run before surgery. I was looking at a bunch of rest days in a row (as it turned out, about a month of them), so I decided to make this run count, and I did.

Worst Run: January 3, 4.01 miles, 11:53/mile

It was 21 degrees, I didn’t have a whole lot of energy due to a recent bad cold, and, oh yeah, I didn’t know I was running with a hernia. I don’t think the hernia affected this run (or any of my other runs), I just think it’s interesting that I ran with a hernia and didn’t know it. Still, for a “worst” run, it wasn’t that bad.

And that’s pretty much it for January. I had my surgery on January 17, and didn’t get back to running until February, but that’s a story for my next monthly wrap-up, which, at this pace, should be ready by October of 2022.

I finished the Teal Diva 5K. I do wish it had started earlier than 9:30 so it would have been a few degrees cooler, but it was still fairly comfortable. My time wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped, but it was still respectable. It was still fun, and they raised a bunch of money for ovarian cancer research, so that’s pretty cool. My nephews were sick and couldn’t make it, so I was bummed about that, but I’m sure they cheered me on from afar.

Weight Check: 172.5 pounds, up 1.1 from last week. Yeah, after the race we had a big party, and I overindulged. I’ll just have to work my way back down this week.

Total: 14.39 miles

Monday had rain. It was mostly light but it did pick up a little bit near the end. (It would have been much worse if I waited another hour, though.) Temperatures were in the upper 50s with very little wind, so it wasn’t too terrible. My legs felt a little bit off. Most of it felt like a slog, but I did manage to pick things up a little bit on mile 4. Between my legs not feeling great and wanting to get out of the rain (not to mention my race coming up on Saturday), I just did one stride at the end. One of these days, I’m going to do the correct number of strides (typically 5-6), but Monday was not that day.

On Wednesday, I missed the rain (that waited until I had to drive to work) but it was still pretty damp. 57 degrees wasn’t too bad, though. I did some squats as part of my bodyweight routine on Tuesday, and I think I felt those squats on the first mile. After that, my legs loosened up, and my pace improved, with a nice push at the end.

Thursday, the weather was OK, 57 degrees again, but not as damp. My legs felt pretty good, definitely better than Wednesday. I did some foam rolling Wednesday night, and I think that really helped. I didn’t really push the pace until the end, but I ended up going faster than I expected. Just a really nice run.

Saturday was my race, with a 1.01 mile warm-up before it. I’ll do a full write up of the race, but the quick summary is that I probably went out a little too fast, struggled a bit on the last mile because of it, but did manage to rally right near the end.

I have my January 2018 monthly wrap-up completed, I’ll just wait until Monday (you know, the last day of April) to publish it. I’ll work on my other monthly reports (and on Tuesday, April is over and another monthly wrap-up gets added to my to do list) and a race report for the Teal Diva 5K.

Maybe I’ll even do some running, too.

Still no January wrap-up. Busy week. I mostly got my running done on schedule, though.

Weight Check: 171.4 pounds, up 0.7 from last week. OK, now I’m starting to get annoyed. My diet may not have been perfect, but right now, I feel like I have no margin for error. And my parents are going to be here next weekend, so I’ll mostly be doing damage control this week (and probably the following week). Sigh.

Total: 19.19 miles

Monday was a strange run. It was kind of windy, but the temperature was still pretty comfortable. I started a little late due to some, uh, bathroom issues. Maybe subconsciously I knew I didn’t have as much time as I’d like, so I sped up a little. My legs felt kind of tired, and I don’t know how much of it was from the 8 miles on Saturday, and how much of it was the fact that I was probably running faster than I should have been. Between the fatigue and the time constraints, I decided to only do 1 stride at the end. I wasn’t sure what to think about this run until I could see how my legs felt on Wednesday.

So on Wednesday, I was definitely curious to see how it would go. The weather was really nice, 54 and sunny. My legs were tired late, but I’m pretty sure it was because of the workout, not because of my previous runs. I really pushed it on the last interval, and had to take a walk break afterwards. Overall, it was a pretty good workout, and based on that, I’m pretty sure Monday was a fluke. Whew.

Friday was a bit colder than it’s been lately, 38, but still not too bad. My legs felt fine. I gradually sped up over the course of the run, and I pushed a bit at the end. Just an uneventful 5K worth of running in my neighborhood, and I’m OK with that.

I’m not sure what was going on Saturday morning, but for some reason, I just did not want to run. Because of that, I got a late start, and I decided to stay in my neighborhood instead of driving to a greenway. Once I finally did get out there, I was fine.

It was a cool start, 41 degrees, but it warmed up nicely. My legs felt a little bit of fatigue on the uphill parts, but otherwise they were OK. I kept the effort fairly easy until the end. Overall, I’m happy with it.

I’ve got a race next weekend, the Teal Diva 5K. Last year, the course was short, but we’re in a new location this year. Since it’s an out and back, I’ll know at the halfway point if it’s going to be an actual 5K. I’ll be happy if I can finish in under 30 minutes.

I’d really like to get a little bit caught up on my monthly recaps, but I’m not all that optimistic. We’ll see how the week goes.

I’ve often complained about races that have Michelob Ultra as their free “beer” after the race, so when a race changes to something more local (and also better, although that’s a pretty low bar), I feel like I should give them a shout out. So kudos to Charlotte Racefest, which was yesterday, and had beer from Olde Mecklenburg Brewery this year. The beer selection isn’t going to determine which race I run – even if I hadn’t had surgery in January, I probably still wouldn’t have run Racefest this year – but I’ll give them credit anyway.

This week, I finally started using my last pair of Adrenaline 17s, my 5th(!), which means that I also retired my 3rd pair of Adrenaline 17s. The 3rd pair led a good life, getting me through the Trophy Trot 10K and Huntersville Half Marathon. My last run in them was my 8 mile long run on Saturday.

Weight Check: 170.7 pounds, up 0.3 from last week. Well, that’s disappointing. I can’t really think of anything specific that caused that. Better luck next week, I hope. I had to replace the battery in my scale. Maybe the new battery is defective. Yes, blaming the battery in the scale is the last refuge of scoundrels.

Total: 20.89 miles

For the first time in what seems like forever, I ran exactly what my schedule said to run.

Monday was cool and damp, but I missed the rain. My legs were a little tired, but I survived. I took it easy on the first 4 miles, and I did OK on the strides at the end

On Wednesday, I got great running weather, 51 and overcast. My legs felt a little tired late in the run, but I think it was more of a “good workout” fatigue. It was easier to find the right paces during two minute intervals than last week’s one minute intervals. The 2nd fast interval was a little faster than I’d like, but otherwise, I ran them pretty well, I definitely pushed it on the last interval, and took a short walk break at the beginning of the cool down. I wanted to run 5 miles, so I added a bit to the end of the cool down. Overall, I was pretty happy with this run.

Friday also had nice running weather, 52 and sunny. My legs felt fine. I pushed a little bit at the end, but otherwise, just an uneventful 5K run in my neighborhood, and I’m OK with that. Also, it was my first run in my 5th pair (I still can’t believe that) of Adrenaline 17s.

On Saturday, it was warmer, 59, and a little humid, but there was an occasional breeze. My legs felt OK. I did stop a couple of times at water fountains since it was a little warmer than I’m used to. It wasn’t easy, my longest run since my half marathon in December, but I had enough left to push it on the last mile. And as I mentioned earlier, it was my last run in my 3rd pair of Adrenaline 17s, so I’m kind of glad the run ended well.

Next week, it’s a slight step-back, since I’ve got the Teal Diva 5K coming up on April 28th, less than 2 weeks away. Foam rolling will be back, apparently. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll start catching up on my monthly wrap-ups.

Well, I had to juggle my schedule a little bit because I screwed up, but I ended up with a pretty good week, running-wise.

Weight Check: 170.4 pounds, up 0.2 from my last weigh-in two weeks ago. I will gladly take that, considering how the first week went. I suppose I did a little bit better this past week.

Total: 19.75 miles

So, I was supposed to do the 4 miles easy plus Strides on Monday. Originally, I had planned to stay over at my parents’ house Sunday night so I didn’t have to drive home Easter night. What happened after I posted last week is that we ended up taking a trip to my sister’s house in Raleigh. I was going to stop by my parents’ house on my way back, so I just grabbed one bag to bring with me with clothes for Monday, including my running clothes. The problem is, I somehow forgot to throw my running shorts in the bag. D’oh! I realized this Monday morning, and decided I’d just push my run back to Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, I was a little pressed for time, because I forgot that I’d need to drop my car off for an oil change before work. So I decided to skip the strides, and I also kind of skipped my usual warm-up. I didn’t think anything about it at the time.

The weather was pretty nice, 52 and partly cloudy. My legs actually felt better as I went along, and initially I thought maybe it was a little bit of rust due to two days without running. I tried not to push too hard, with another run coming on Wednesday, but I did manage to speed up a little on the last mile. When I mentioned to my coach that my legs didn’t feel great, and she wondered whether I needed to change my warm-up.

Busted. I fessed up, told her that I skipped my actual warm-up, and that I probably just needed to be consistent with actually doing the regular warm-up. She was cool about it, so it’s OK, but I made absolutely sure I did the warm-up before every run for the rest of the week.

Wednesday was the day when I finally did strides for the first time. They originally showed up in my schedule on March 21, but that was the day it was 39 and misting and I couldn’t even make it to 4 miles, let alone add strides at the end. Then they were on the schedule for the week of March 26, but that’s when I was out of town for my uncle’s funeral, and I ended up just doing some treadmill runs instead. Then they were on the schedule for Monday, but I forgot my shorts, and Tuesday, but I didn’t have time for them. Finally, after 3 weeks, I did strides.

I’ve seen several different ways of doing strides, but what my coach prescribes is to run for about 30 seconds, accelerating to a fast pace, holding it for about 10 seconds, then gradually decelerating, and taking a short break in between.

The weather was tough, 66, overcast, and humid. Welcome to June. My legs felt like they weren’t quite 100%, but they were still OK. I did a full warm-up before this run.

After 4 easy miles, I finished with six 30 second strides with 60 seconds in between. I jogged for the full 60 seconds after the first stride, then went with about 30 seconds of walking/30 seconds of jogging after that. I think it went fairly well for my first time doing strides, and I did finish with my fastest stride at the end.

For Friday, I ended up doing a Fartlek workout that was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but my coach revised my schedule after my screw-up on Monday. The weather was much cooler, 43 degrees, but not too bad. My legs felt fine. I had a little trouble finding my fast and my easy paces at first (Lap 5 was supposed to be “fast” and Lap 6 was supposed to be “easy,” but I averaged 10:23/mile, then 10:20/mile, oops), but after that my pacing got better, then I really pushed it on the last interval, getting down to 7:47(!)/mile. I did start the cool down with a short walk break, but after that, I tried to keep a steady, easy pace. Once I found the right paces, I managed to keep all but one of my fast intervals under 10:00/mile, so I’m happy about that.

Saturday was interesting. I was on call for work, and it was raining. It wasn’t too bad, though, the rain was mostly light, there was no wind, and it was 56 degrees. Not ideal, but it could have been much worse.

My legs felt OK, even after Friday’s workout. I made it the full 7 miles, and didn’t get paged for work during my run. I was probably a little faster than I should have been on mile 2 (and maybe mile 4) but otherwise I kept a fairly steady pace until I pushed it a little bit near the end.

It was my longest run since my half marathon on December 9, so there’s that.

This week, I guess it’s almost back to normal. Maybe I’ll even get a monthly wrap-up done, but don’t hold your breath.

It was a difficult week, as you can imagine, and tiring, but I think we gave my Uncle a good sendoff, and the running went fairly well.

Also, I don’t do April Fools Day jokes. When I am King, only Google and ThinkGeek will be allowed to do April Fools Day jokes.

Weight Check: Uh, well, I won’t be back home until sometime during the day Monday, which means I won’t be able to weigh in until Tuesday morning, and I don’t want to sit on this post until then (especially considering I now have 3 monthly wrap-up posts to write). I was at 170.2 before I left town last Sunday, March 25. I ate a lot and drank a lot this past week. We’re Irish, that’s how we roll. I’m not looking forward to stepping on the scale Tuesday morning, but at least I’ll have until next Sunday to try to get back down to a reasonable weight.

Total: 15.34 miles

I followed my schedule on Friday and Saturday (OK, Friday was supposed to be 3 miles, but I always need to make it a 5K), and figured I’d get on the treadmill on Tuesday and Wednesday and hopefully get to 5K.

The hotel we stayed in had a decent little fitness center with two treadmills. They also had towels, which is really nice. So on Tuesday, I started at 11:45/mile, and sped up to around 11:19/mile for the last half mile or so. The treadmill is mentally excruciating, but my legs felt fine.

Wednesday, I started at 11:45/mile again, and this time sped up to around 11:08/mile for the last half mile or so, just a hair faster. The treadmill was still mentally excruciating, but my legs still felt fine.

On Friday, I was back outside but in my parents’ neighborhood. It was warm, 63 degrees, and humid, although there was an occasional breeze that felt good. My legs felt fine. I tried to take it somewhat easy with a 6 miler on the schedule for Saturday. I gradually increased the pace over the course of the run before really pushing at the very end.

Saturday was a pleasant surprise.

It was cooler, only 39 degrees, and since I forgot to pack a long sleeved running shirt, it was a little chilly for the first mile or so, but the sun helped. My legs felt OK most of the time. There was a little fatigue on the uphill climbs, and near the end when I really pushed the pace.

I normally don’t like running in my parents’ neighborhood, but this run went really well. For one day, I owned Madison Woods. It’ll probably never happen again, but I’ll enjoy it while I can.

Next week will almost be back to normal. I’ll still be in Greensboro Monday morning, and next weekend I’ll be on call for work. I’d also like to get at least one of my monthly wrap-ups completed.