Just Plodding Along

April was a good month for running. Miles: I ran 170 miles. More miles than I have ever run before. Races: No half marathons but I did run the Shamrock Shuffle  which I absolutely loved. I ran faster than I thought I could on tired legs. It made me excited to search for some short distances to run this summer. Start line at Shamrock Shuffle Cross training: I did better at including lifting and working on abs. There is still lots of room to improve there and will be my main focus for the month of May and part of June. The best part of April- I finish marathon training, entered taper mode and can't wait to tackle the Wisconsin marathon. In thinking about my goals for the marathon I recalled that my main goal for the marathon when I started training was to show up at the start line in the best shape possible and I believe I have achieved that. I have logged more miles than I ever have before, completed two twenty mile runs and feel injury free and excit...

Last month......so many miles 166 miles. More miles then I think I have run....ever. Half marathons run: 3 March O' Madness  Chitown Half Egg Shell Shuffle Medals Obtained: 3 Some yoga, some weights, but not enough. The last three days I have taken time off. It has been pretty awesome. Though I do fear I will be a bit like this when I get back to running Sleeping in is just so delicious. Having energy all day is also kind of cool. This month I can stop running so much. And I am kind of happy about that. Things are starting to get tired, creaky and a little agitated. So achy that I cut a 22 mile run down to 14.5 due to my left foot feeling weird. Nothing is allowed to feel weird. NOTHING.  Only 4 weeks until the marathon

Half marathons run: 0 Races in general run:0 So sad. I miss racing. People residing in a warm state and running races are making me jealous. Somebody hand me a medal. Miles run this month: 114 I have been uping my mileage each week. Week one: 22 miles Week two: 25 miles Week three: 27 miles Week four: 30 miles So far so good with marathon training but it is only just beginning. I have done pretty good with yoga and strength training but I could do better. So this month I am going to focus on making sure I fit it in. I also want to up the speed a bit. Push it a little more. I spend a lot of time on the treadmill might as well put it to good use and use it as a tool to help bring on the speed a bit more. Other fun January stuff: Fun in the city with family These came and then these. Hello sales. Shoes for the next few months obtained. Goals were made. Love my Believe I Am journal. Tried new restaurant Firkin. Best part was the beer. Which I now appar...

Mileage this month was kind of a bust at only 46.7 but resting went well with taking a whole week off and reducing mileage by quite a bit for the month. I injured my hip a bit but was able to tweak it back into place and have been doing strengthening exercises to hopefully not do that again. I bumped up my strength training and attempts at yoga as an alternative to running and would like to keep that up. No races this month but have been having adventures in cold weather running. Not a huge fan but am grateful that the weather has been mild enough that I have been able to run outside. Other highlights: Registered for a spring marathon Obtained some sweet running gear- yay for Christmas! Adventures in the big city and visiting with family. Any highlights for you this month?

Miles Run: 94.6 miles Not my highest but not my lowest. Half marathons completed: 2 Tyranena Beer Run Schaumburg Half Cross training: Well most of that was done in the past week during my break from running any sort of distance. But overall have gotten better about stretching and doing some strength training. Other highlights: Started #rwrunstreak- going strong at a mile a day Thanksgiving happened = ate all of the things and it was awesome Realized only have 12 miles to run after this week to reach my goal of running a 1000 miles this year! Super excited about that! The not awesome: Hurt myself a bit at my last half- learned need to get better at doing my hip strengthening exercise to avoid this pattern of hurt hip, rehab hip, stop doing exercises, hurt hip. Realized cold weather running is not fun and keeping in shape over the winter will be harder than I expected. Am experiencing irrational fears about registering for the Illinois marathon 'I wi...

Miles Run: 110.6 Half Marathons: 4 Prairie State Half Des Plaines Half Monster Dash Half Skeleton Skamper Medals obtained: 4 Half marathons under two hours: 1  Number of pumpkin flavored items ingested: too many to count Blogger meet-ups/ new running BFF obtained: 1 Me and Yo Momma Treadmills obtained: 1 Whiny, cold early morning runs avoided due to new treadmill: many with many to come Coming up in November: Tyranena Beer Run 1/2- Done, review to come Schaumburg 1/2 - Turkey Trot Half Nov. 24th Except for the half around Thanksgiving my plan is to keep it easy. I am tired after all those half marathons and want to take a step back before marathon training commences in January. My goal is to focus on more strength training. My back and core have been sore and I think it is in part due to sitting in an office chair a majority of every day but also they are just weak. Oh and my arms are useless. For example went bowling the ...

Miles run this month: 125.7 - pretty sure most I have ever done in one month. YTD: 780.5 Shortest run: 2 miles Longest: 16 miles Half marathons: Oak Brook 1/2 and Crystal Lake 1/2 Cross training: vague memories of biking, lifting and yoga = probably not enough Things to work on this month. Stretching, rolling, and cross training. Hmmm yes same ole, same ole. I have four half marathons in October. Two in one weekend. Let the crazy begin. Prairie State Half 10/6 Double Header Weekend: Des Plains Trail Half & Chicago Monster Dash Half 10/20-10/21 Skeleton Skamper 10/27 -Am thinking need costume like outfit or black and orange something to wear to Halloween runs. On the agenda for this week. Monday- rest day/ yoga Tuesday- 4 mi/ lift Wed- 8 mi/ yoga Thur- 7 mi/ lift Friday- nada Saturday- Prairie State 1/2 Sunday- 4 mi Total: 36.1 mi The name of the game is easy miles and I might drop the Thursday run depending on how much rest I want before Satur...

Miles run: 103.5 I don't want to toot my own horn here but tooty, toot, toot. That is pretty dang good considering one week of August I was stowed away on a big yellow moving truck slowly making its way cross country. My goal was to keep running even though things were kind of crazy and I did. Probably helps that I moved to a cooler, more runner friendly area with miles and miles of trails and friendly neighborhoods. Half marathons done: big fat 0 But that is about to be over and I will be running lots and lots this fall and I am so excited to explore new places and get new medals....oh and run. Dear running gods please don't let something like this happen to me when I finally achieve my treadmill dreams.   One of my goals for this year, which I decided upon I think around April was to try to run a thousand miles this year. Right now I am at 654.8. I just don't know if I am gonna do it. I would need to run around 86.3 miles a month for the rest of the year. Which ...

Mileage: 92 miles Bit lower than June which was at 104.6 but I did take a week of to rest my right leg so I say WIN. Cross training: not consistent There was some zumba, some yoga, some spinning, some strength but nothing that was done with any regularity. This and stretching, icing and rolling are areas I really need to work on. Races: Breeze in the Trees 5K in 27:51 No medals were obtained but I did get this sweet t-shirt. The 5K was fun and I think I would like to work on some speed and do more of them. But my first love will probably always be the half distance. Goals for August: We have some large life changes going on around here (moving and new job) that are generating a fair amount of stress and demands on time so this month my main goal is to keep running consistently. I want to be better about stretching, rolling and icing as well. If I get some cross training in super but that will just be an added bonus. August will most likely be my last month of no races f...

What the heck, where did June go? This month seemed to fly by. Miles for the month: 104.6 Highest  mileage month of the year. So that is pretty dang exciting If only I had this much rhythm in zumba Highest mileage week 31.5 Highest mileage week of the year. I am a little behind on my goal to hit 1000 miles this year (at 477.3 currently) so hoping that I can continue to build on high mileage weeks for the rest of year. This month I tried zumba and muscle pump classes to get out of my comfort zone and work on some cross training.  I don't think I will keep attending those classes because I am cheap and don't want to pay for the pass but I have dug out my Jillian Michael's 'I am gonna kill you' workout dvd box set and my three different yoga dvds, plus I own a spin bike, step and weights. I have everything and more that I need for cross training. And I saw there is a zumba dvd set..... something to think about (because obviously I don't have enough wor...

Oh man was May ever a bust in the mileage department. Mileage: 40.5 Half marathons: 2 Palos Verdes Pasadena Cross training: tons of walking/ some lifting/ some yoga Number of graduations missed due to illness: 1 Days spent in hospital: 2 Number of mysterious viruses: 1 Number of new shoes obtained: 2 New running song I love: Rihanna Where Have You Been Number of fun visits from family: 2 Days Max the wonder dog looked cooler than me: 31 Overall a pretty good month. Could have done without the illness but I guess we take the good with the bad.  For June I hope to fit in more fun running, do more cross training, and avoid any and all illnesses. Oh and not die of heatstroke. Days 100 degrees or more in Tucson in May: 4 Days 90 degrees or more in Tucson in May: 23 Yep I guess we voluntarily live here.

Miles run : 90.6 1/2s run: 3 Medals Obtained: 4 This month I have incorporated more yoga (again) and walking as cross training. What next? No more races on the calender until September. What to do? What to do? My plan is to up the mileage, start doing some strength training, work on increasing my flexibility and get some speed. Oh and hey RnR Denver I am coming for you and I will have my under 2 hour PR. Oh yes I will have it.

Okay so there wasn't really much madness going on this month. Actually pretty tame. Monthly mileage equaled 64.5 miles, a little on the low side but I did take some time to rest after running a gazillion (3) 1/2s in February. I have started incorporating speedwork once a week (I have done it twice but still think it deserves a round of applause). I have run 212.6 miles since January 1st. I have also tried to incorporate more days of running and slowly up my weekly mileage. I would eventually like to be in the 30 miles per week range but want to take it slow since increasing intensity with speedwork (okay quicker plodding) with more miles seems like a recipe for injury and me being stuck spinning. I am also teaching myself to not hate the treadmill. That is slow going. I ran one half this past month the Arizona Distance Classic  in 2:14 and obtained one medal. On the agenda for April: Lake Havasu Half, Horsetooth Half, and Mount Lemmon Half in that order...

February was kind of a bust mileage wise. Only ran 57.3 miles in February. Of course even with leap day this is a shorter month, yes...yes that is the reason. Have run 138.1 miles this year. That is pretty good. Kind of want to see if I can pick it up and hit 1000 miles this year. A goal to consider. Pounds lost in Feb.  = 4 = solid effort (I don't even want the  glitter shoes anymore, but still think I deserve a prize if I ever actually hit my goal weight). Half marathons run in Feb.= 3 Sedona 1/2 Lost Dutchman 1/2 Arizona 1/ 2 Medals obtained in February = 3 Half marathons where I acted like a punk butt: 1 Goals for March: Figure out what the pain in my calf is about and fix it. Work on stretching and balancing my hips. I need to get better about stretching. If I don't bad things happen. Take another week off of running and spend it swimming and pool running to let my calf/hip feel better Continue working on gaining...

Miles Run: 86.7  (I believe this is also the number of celebrity gossip magazines read and glasses of wine drank but I don't have a sweet log book to keep track of those things). Half Marathon's Run: 2  Temecula Half  & Team Gab Virtual Race Medals Obtained: 1 Cross training done: lots of lunges, squats, sit-ups, push-ups and biking Horrific  YOGA  injuries obtained: 1 Pounds lost: like .025 So I just like can't understand why I am not skinnier.....oh hand me that candy Pairs of awesome glitter shoes obtained: 0 Pair of awesome Aspaeris shorts obtained: 1 Mornings Nellie woke me up at 5a.m. because she wanted to be fed breakfast NOW: 31 ummm.....so feed me already