2013 Ending Strong, Looking Ahead to 2014

It's the end of the year and always a good time to look back and plan ahead. 2013 was definitely interesting in that it brought with it my return to consistent running, and also a return to consistent injury and pain. I started off really conservatively, managed to finish a Half Marathon in Pittsburgh in early May, but contracted a tight calf at the same time which lead to an Achilles injury that forced me to take most of July off. August brought a return to running, but most of all it started off with a lot of walking. I'd then alternate a kilometre walking with a  kilometre running until September saw me staring straight at the prospect of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon the following month. That's when I started to cut back on the walking and upped the running.

In the end, I managed to finish the marathon on what can only be described as the bare minimum of mileage. Highest week leading up to the race was a paltry 65km and only one other time did I manage to hit 60km! It's amazing I finished relatively healthy at all...

Right after the marathon I joined a running group and started in on my "recovery". Within a few weeks I became committed to daily running, not because of the group, but rather because I reasoned that if I wanted to get better at running long distances (and hopefully BQ someday) I'd have to run longer distances in training. Duh!

So, the past two months have brought with them daily running, with just a couple of days off, and new mileage records as a result. Prior to this period the farthest I'd run in a month was 283.45km in August 2010 while training for my first marathon. In November I snuck past that total with a 293.76km effort.

Well, December has been a revelation. Not only did I hit 100km for a week three times, but the total for the month was (for me) a mind blowing 461.41km (286.7 miles)! Guess I'll need to buy running shoes more often if this keeps up...

Anyway, the goals as far as running goes for 2014 are simple:

1. Stay healthy!
2. Run the marathon distance twice (Spring and Fall make sense) and become competent at it (i.e. be truly prepared to finish without hitting the wall, pace being immaterial)

Of course, a BQ would be great as that is my ultimate goal, but given my history of injuries and the like I think it wise to just become proficient at running 42.2km prior to focusing on trying to run it fast.

May 2014 be great for you and yours!

Another Banner Week

It's the end of the last full week of the year, and with it I am almost through my second month of (almost) daily running. My goal, as stated previously, is to finally build a proper base by trying my best to hit 100km every week or so. I recognize that this is not an easy task for someone who tends to suffer overuse injuries, but at the same time it is not that outrageous to think that, if I am smart going about it, I can achieve both this goal and with it the accompanying benefits in my running overall.

So, with the power outage that we were subject to for the first couple of days of this past week my plans as far as running goes were in serious danger of getting derailed. In amongst all the Christmas stress and prep I was not going to let myself down and miss any running, though with a bit of a cold and a very sore throat I found it difficult at times to get out the door. Also, I had to hit the treadmill a couple of times because I simply had no hot water to shower with at home on account of the power outage that started the week and it was very cold outside.

The week started off with a ten miler on the old hamster wheel, then it was all I could do to manage 12km each day the rest of the week until the weekend. The final run, my usual 20km effort, was the toughest by far as I had a very tough time dragging my ass out of bed and was suffering from very low energy. But, in the end, I toughed it out and hit my mileage goal for yet another week.

The total for the week was 100.25km (62.3 miles) on 8hr50m57s of running. I'm up to 433.4km for the month on 30 runs over 29 days. I haven't checked, but I'm sure that blows my previous monthly total record out of the water. Guess that's what running daily will do!

• Monday: 16km (treadmill), 1:23:10, 5:10/km, 140bpm (at least the gym had power)
• Tuesday: 12km (treadmill), 1:00:11, 5:00/km, 145bpm (progression run of sorts to ease the boredom)
• Wednesday: 12km, 1:08:09, 5:41/km, 139bpm (sore throat, slippery and sloppy, snowing out...)
• Thursday: 12km, 1:01:09, 5:06/km, 144bpm (felt better and better as I ran, but throat still very sore)
• Friday: 13km, 1:07:12, 5:10/km, 146bpm (low on energy, slippery out, but toughed out a decent run)
• Saturday: 15.1km, 1:25:01, 5:36/km, 136bpm (group run, stuck to the pace of another runner who was suffering a bit)
• Sunday: 20km, 1:46:04, 5:18/km, 137bpm (sidewalks a total disaster, energy really low, a tough run mentally as much as anything, surprised by averaged HR given how I felt)

Where did THAT come from?

I really surprised myself last week with the running that I was able to accomplish, that's for sure! It's a bit hard to remember the week, actually, as we lost power on Saturday night and didn't get it back until Tuesday evening of this week. No power, no internet, and not at work along with Christmas busy stuff means I'm a bit behind on everything. The house was so cold during the outage, which occurred after an period of freezing rain and then followed by a temperature drop. Trees down everywhere, along with power lines, etc...

Anyway, it was what it was and as of right now, nearly a full week later, there are still thousands of people without power in the City so I guess we're lucky.

But as far as my running went, it was the highest mileage week ever for me! I had two days where I ran twice, and other than that I stuck to the minimum 12km/day rule. Also, I managed to run in the early morning before work for the first time in a very long time on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The weather leading up to the storm was crappy too, so the conditions were sloppy and slippery. This forced me to go indoors yet again for the Sunday 20km effort (bleh!).

The total for the week was 115.4km (71.7 miles) on 10hr55m25s of running.

• Monday AM: 16km, 1:30:31, 5:39/km, 135bpm (very cold out, and slippery in most sections)
• Monday PM: 8.1km, 45:12, 5:35/km, 137bpm (sloppy out, and cold)
• Tuesday: 12km, 1:13:00, 6:05/km, 131bpm (snowing, cold, and very slippery)
• Wednesday AM: 15km, 1:29:24, 5:57/km, 130bpm (crappy footing, slippery and sloppy, so slow...)
• Wednesday PM: 5km, 31:31, 6:18/km, 142bpm (HR monitor totally off. No way this was that hard.)
• Thursday: 12.3km (treadmill), 4:54.7/km, 150bpm (alternating 3min@7.5mph, 2min@8.3mph, plus warm up and cool down)
• Friday: 12km, 1:14:28, 6:12/km, 130bpm (crappy weather; like a shifting ice rink underfoot)
• Saturday: 15km, 1:19:48, 5:19/km, 143bpm (stuck to main road to avoid most slippery sections)
• Sunday: 20km (treadmill), 1:51:08, 5:33/km, 141bpm (bulk of run at 7.0mph setting, 1.0% incline)

Keep On Moving

Another week, another decent amount of mileage. In my quest to run somewhere in the 100km or more per week range things are going better than I would have hoped. Had I been asked a month or two ago when I might first reach my first week of 100km I'd have answered, "Sometime in February, maybe early March seems like a reasonable goal." Then I went ahead and just did it last week, so I'm rather pleased.

So, after my first week of triple digits, metric style, I was all set for a nice "down week". I even took Tuesday off, though it had more to do with family committments rather than not wanting to run, and for once it wasn't due to injury. I just didn't really feel like running late at night when the temperatures were somewhere in the vicinity of -20C with the wind. Can you blame me? Besides, this was a "down week", so I tried not to feel too guilty about taking just my second day off since November 2nd.

Anyway, long story short, I still managed to accumulate 90km (55.9 miles) this week on 7hr59m44s of running! Some "down week"...

• Monday: 12km, 1:08:40, 5:43/km, 134bpm
• Tuesday: rest
• Wednesday: 17km, 1:30:00, 5:18/km, 144bpm
• Thursday: 12km (treadmill), 1:00:00, 5:00/km, 146bpm
• Friday: 16km, 1:21:20, 5:05/km, 136bpm (mileage starting to pay off??? HR low for that pace)
• Saturday: 13km, 1:10:13, 5:24/km, 148bpm (HR monitor messed up, said 209bpm max!, plus cold and windy)
• Sunday: 20km (treadmill, snowstorm), 1:49:23, 5:27/km, 140bpm

Perspective: More is Better

In an effort to become a proficient marathoner I have decided, as noted previously, that the only way to get better at running more is to run more. My modest plan is to try and get to a point where I am running 100km (62 miles) per week on a regular basis. For some this is not a lofty goal, but for me I enter this phase with more than a little trepidation given my checkered past of injury and the like.

So you will excuse me if I express a small bit of shock at the fact that not only did I hit a mileage milestone last week (107.67km, or 66.9 miles), but moreso because I feel really good! Old wonky runner would now go straight into another week of milestone chasing, but new wonky runner is listening to the advice of those around him, not the least of which the experienced runners of a new running group I've joined, and will use this coming week as a step back. It's crazy to say, but if I run somewhere around 80km (50 miles) THAT will count! Prior to the past four weeks I'd only gotten to 80km in a week three times in my entire life!

It's all about perspective.