Thursday, December 31, 2020

The rest of 2020, and year in review

Finishing out the year 2020 with daily reports below:

Saturday 12/26
Did: 8.04 mi @ 9:06/mi avg
Ran on Lake Road for a nice easy 8 miles solo.

Sunday 12/27
Did: 2.5 mile hike w/ D at Cane Creek Park + 1.6 mi run @ 8:39/mi avg
Spent the morning walking through the woods w/ D at a park near Waxhaw, NC. When we drove back to the Lake House, I exited the car after we turned off the main road and ran home to get in the mile for the streak. 
Dude looked pretty awesome in his new hiking boots & Camelbak 

Monday 12/28
Did: 4.35 mi @ 8:53/mi avg
Left the lake and headed to Charleston for a mini-vacation, so I ran from our hotel to Patriot's Point across the Ravenel Bridge. I've never run "The Bridge" before, so it was a new experience and pretty cool!


Tuesday 12/29
Did: 6.21 mi @ 10:31/mi avg
A nice tour of the historic Charleston peninsula for #10kTuesday, slow pace due to both navigational pauses as well as a literal pain in my butt that did not go away through the entire run. :/ Obviously missing my regular yoga and strength training. 


Wednesday 12/30
Did: 1.03 mi run/walk w/ D
I'm barely counting this as a "run" but it was as much as I could do with the 5 year old in tow (running on his own). He doesn't have much in the way of endurance so it was a run/walk style around the neighborhood. Low back/glutes still hurt. :/ 

Thursday 12/31
Did: Soul Sculpt + 1.08 mi @ 9:08
Did a sculpt class thinking some strength training would be good for the whatever-is-hurting issue I'm still having. It did seem to feel better throughout class, though some moves caused some pain (high knees in particular, and jumping jacks). Went out for the final mile of 2020 and felt okayish but not good enough to try to attempt a crazy thing some runner friends are doing later today (running 20 miles at midnight). 


YEAR IN REVIEW
Running: 1086 miles over 210 activities
Biking: 397 miles over 46 activities
Hiking: 67 miles over 15 activities (record number of hikes this year!)
120 yoga sessions (definitely a record by far)
46 strength sessions (highest since 2015)

Far more activities this year vs. any previous year

Not my highest number of miles but I guess I've spent more time this year diversifying by doing other things (hiking, yoga, strength) which is positive. 

12 Days of Yeti!


This is going to be 12 days worth of blogging since I'm doing the 12 Days of Yeti Challenge.

Monday
Day 1 Challenge: walk a 5k
Did: 3.12 mi @ 11:37/mi avg
I couldn't stand walking the whole thing (it takes so long) so I walked 1 and slow-jogged 2. Good enough.

Tuesday
Day 2 Challenge: 5-mi progression run
Did: 6.26 mi @ 9:45/mi avg
Did my 5 progression miles as neighborhood loops (because I was paranoid about actually hitting the progression if I varied my route) then finished with an extra 1.2 miles around the neighborhood because it's also #10kTuesday and it's #notoptional.

woohoo!

Wednesday
Day 3 Challenge: 1200 ft of vert + 100 step-ups
Did: 6.6 mi @ 11:52/mi avg w/ 1,319ft elevation + 100 step-ups
Today's challenge was to do a run of any distance with 1,200 ft of elevation gain, then follow it with 100 step-ups (50 on each leg). I thought of a few different options and decided hitting the trails would be the simplest way to get it done, especially considering the weather was to be 35-40F and raining all day. 
Ew.

I went out at the end of the work day and got started a bit before 4pm. My plan was to go up Sulphur Springs, do the entire Brissy Ridge loop, and come back down. When I got to the top of Sulphur Springs I took my phone out to take a selfie and it was totally dead... so I decided trotting off into the woods when nobody else was out on the trails and I was going to be close to getting back before sunset would not be a smart idea, and opted for loops with part on the road instead.
I went back down the road to the parking lot, switched phones, and repeated the same loop (up the trail, down the road) again. I knew the ascent was between 400-500 ft of climbing each time, so decided to do 3 climbs to ensure I got all 1200 ft needed. For the third one, with sunlight rapidly decreasing, I opted to go up and back on the road. 

At least the rain mostly stopped

This trail!

Once I finished, I found a rock nearby and did my step-ups.

Oof.

Happy to be done
Thursday
Day 4 Challenge: Same 5k as Monday, but do it faster (but still walk) + Listen to a song from this list that you've never heard before
Did: 30 min arms + core, 3.16 mi @ 10:26/mi avg
I had signed up for and planned on doing a Sculpt class then follow with my 5k, but my mind and heart just weren't into the class. So I cranked up some music and zoned out while doing some arms and core for 30 mins, then went out for my 5k. It was nice out, but I was in a "just get it done" mindset. I still took it slow (walked most of the 1st mile) then just ran a whatever pace for the rest of it, following the same route as Monday. Obviously was faster, so that wasn't a concern... but I also didn't walk it all like I was supposed to. 🤷

I listened to "Stop Pretending" by Deep Sea Diver. I liked it. 

Friday
Day 5 Challenge: one hour of yoga + read a book from the 100 Most Banned/Challenged Books list. 
Did: 60 min Power Flow w/ Jessica + 1.05 mi @ 9:45/mi 
This "running" challenge is interesting. 🤔 But I like it! 

I didn't do the yoga routine provided by the Yeti, but I did my regularly-planned 60 min power flow which was solid. Then followed with 1 mile around the 'hood for the run streak. 

Maybe this doesn't count, but I did recently read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (like, I read it this year actually!). It was pretty good, and I'm not sure why it was banned/challenged. Anyway, I don't have time to read a book right now (I have 2 in progress simultaneously and it's driving me crazy!) so I'm counting this as my book for this challenge.  On second thought, instead I found The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on my shelf, so I've added that to the queue and will read it once I finish the 2 I have in progress now (they're both almost done). 



Saturday
Day 6 Challenge: 7-mile BONK run = positive split progression run (each mile slower) with no food before/during
Did: 7.09 mi @ 9:23/mi avg + 4.05 mi @ 9:02/mi avg
This was a two-event day and I loveddddd it. Got up early in the cold darkness for my assigned Yeti run of the day: 7 miles, each mile slower than the one before it. 

NAILED IT.

I thought I was going to keel over on the first mile... it is not easy going that hard right out of the gate! Especially because the way I decided to run my 1-mile loop in the neighborhood started off with about 100ft of elevation gain over the first 1/4 mile. After the first 2 loops I settled into much more comfortable paces and really enjoyed the challenge of focusing on pace. I only checked my watch once or twice per lap and was really happy at not having to make drastic adjustments to what I was already running by feel.

The second part of my day was a fun morning with friends running a casual relay race (no bibs, no timing, no fees, just come run). It was put on by the Greer Running Club and was super fun! It was supposed to be a 1-mile loop run by teams of 2-4 people, but we decided since we hadn't seen each other in a while we would run all 4 loops together! Our Santa duckie was the "baton" that we carried with us. It was such a fun morning and so nice to catch up with friends.

Pre-race. I was cold.

Race group

Team!

Reindeer shadows

😁

Enjoyed yummy coffee afterwards

😊

Sunday
Day 7 Challenge: 5 mile run at conversational pace, except do mile 3 at 100% effort
Did: 5.05 mi @ 9:31/mi 


Ran in the neighborhood and surrounding streets, and picked a loop with a good bit of up and down for the fast mile. It's not my fastest mile ever, but on that day, it was 100% effort and I felt good about that.


Miles for the week = 36.4 😮  Wow.

Monday
Day 8 Challenge: run anything, but don't check your phone/email/social media until after you're done
Did: 2.16 mi @ 9:09/mi avg + 60 min Power Flow w/ Karina
Did my run early in the neighborhood and gave myself permission to run whatever I felt like. I knew it would be short since I didn't plan on doing repeat loops, and it was just the ease that I needed. 
Got in some yoga at lunch which was nice.

Tuesday
Day 9 Challenge: run anything, but go somewhere new
Did: 6.65 mi @ 8:14/mi avg Track Tuesday + 2 miles on trail at Lake Conestee
Of course the ONE day of the week that I have something consistently planned is the day I'm supposed to do something new and different. I went ahead with the usual track Tuesday with the crew even though it was offered to meet at a different track (20 mins away) to accommodate my challenge. We met up and I did 5x800 (3:32, 3:29, 3:32, 3:31, 3:33) with 200 recovery between each. The shorter recoveries were tough, but times stayed pretty consistent. I can't seem to push faster than a 7:00/mi pace on these though. Still happy with the consistency... a few seconds here and there will make a difference. 

I've got D at home with me today so he and I are going to explore a new park this afternoon. Maybe not 100% on-target with the challenge, but it'll get us somewhere we haven't been before and I think that's the bigger goal!

We got out in the afternoon, played on the playground for a bit, then got D on his bike and headed off on the paved trails around Lake Conestee. They were fun and we'll definitely go back!



This kid. 😏💙


Wednesday
Day 10 Challenge: fast walk 5k + run (any pace) 5k
Did: 60 min Soul Sculpt w/ Katie + 1.27 mi run
Time got away from me today, so I didn't get today's challenge done. Going to shift to complete day 10 tomorrow and Day 11 the following day. 

Thursday
Day 11 Challenge: 100% effort 5k
Did: walk 5k (44:17) easy run 5k (30:59)
Went through the 'hood for this. Didn't want to because it was raining and starting out with a walk wasn't going to keep me warm, but finally talked myself into it. This was a "just get it done" event.
Ok fine. Here I go.

Friday
Day 12 Challenge: "There are 6 days left in 2020. Do something about it ! Think about something new you would like to learn. Explore new hobbies."
Did: hard 5k @ 7:41/mi avg
One day's hard/PR 5k is not the same as another day's, but today was not close to a PR. It was as hard as I could muster for this day and time, though, so it met the challenge.

For the 12th day challenge, I'm going to finally learn how to french braid my own hair. I haven't done it yet but that's my plan.


And after weeks in USPS limbo, I received my race goodies!

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Midway December

 Monday
#rwrunstreak day 12
Did: 1.41 mi @ 9:18/mi
Another quick run through the 'hood in the early morning before going into the office.

Tuesday
#rwrunstreak day 13
Did: 6.98 mi @ 8:21/mi avg Track Tuesday
This was supposed to be track workout before going into the office, but yesterday evening we got an "increased COVID measures" email and now I'm not allowed to go to the office because my project isn't considered an emergency (I'd like to see them consider how critical it is if it doesn't get done ::grumblegrumble::). Anyway, still met the track crew for some early frozen loops. 
6x600 (2:34, 2:34, 2:31, 2:36, 2:34, 2:36) - not bad consistency there
2x200 (0:44, 0:44) 
Not exactly the fastest paces, but feeling good on the consistency at least. 

Wednesday
#rwrunstreak day 14
Did: 5.28 mi @ 8:35/mi avg + 60 min Soul Sculpt w/ Katie
Rode in the car to drop D off at school and hopped out to run home for my run today. It was COLD but there was a beautiful sunrise.


Threw in a little tempo in the middle (1.26 mi @ 7:22/mi avg) to make things interesting, and it's a good thing I did because I ran in the door just in time for my 8am team meeting.

Did sculpt class at lunch which was great and tough as usual!

Thursday
#rwrunstreak day 15
Did: 60 min Soul Sculpt w/ Alysia + 2.24 mi @ 9:01/mi
Two days in a row of sculpt is tough! Good enough variety vs. yesterday that it wasn't too bad though. Followed with a couple miles run in the nice warm sunshine. What a big difference from yesterday!

Friday
#rwrunstreak day 16
Did: 2.24 mi @ 8:50/mi + 60 min Power Flow w/ Jessica
A quick little loop through the neighborhood followed by some Friday yoga. 

Saturday
#rwrunstreak day 17
Did: 8.57 mi @ 8:18/mi avg
Got out early to run downtown, just me and Matt for a nice speedy loop through downtown. Took to the hills of North Main neighborhood, a little cut-thru of the Bob Jones campus, and back through Overbrook. I felt like I was dragging, but I guess it was just the speed getting to me! 
Post-run reward

Sunday
#rwrunstreak day 18
Did: 3.31 mi @ 13:26/mi avg
Ran while chasing D on his bike on the Swamp Rabbit, not fast but fun to get out with him and tally up 30 miles for the week! 


Tomorrow starts the 12 Days of Yeti!!

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

It's December?

 Monday
#rwrunstreak day 5
Did: 1.19 mi run + 10 mins core
I actually had to go in to the office today (and our office gym is still closed 😷) so I was scrambling to get a morning workout done. I got my mile done for the streak in the early darkness around the neighborhood, then did a few minutes of core to call it good enough.

Tuesday
#rwrunstreak day 6
Did: 7.19 mi @ 8:00/mi avg Track Tuesday
Another day in the office but was able to run with the early track crew. Got in some good fast work today, did shorter intervals and opted for some speed!
2x1000 (4:23, 4:21)
2x600 (2:34, 2:32)
4x200 (0:43, 0:43, 0:40, 0:41)

Wednesday
#rwrunstreak day 7
Did: 2.96 mi @ 8:24/mi + 60 min Soul Sculpt w/ Katie
Great day today! Working at home, so got in a mid-morning 3-miler then did sculpt class at lunch. Motivated by a brand new outfit from Ellie Activewear 💁💪


Thursday
#rwrunstreak day 8
Did: 2.66 mi @ 8:56/mi + Power Flow w/ Marsha
I think I was really stressed this day. I don't remember, because I'm writing this on Tuesday of the following week. I guess things got busy. 

Friday
#rwrunstreak day 9
Did: 2.95 mi @ 10:29/mi 
Early morning slog before going into the office. Oy, this was a WEEK.
Leaving work laaaate on Friday in the rain 

Saturday
#rwrunstreak day 10
Did: 9.3 mi @ 9:21/mi avg
Nice long run. Nothing too unique about it, just nice.

Sunday
#rwrunstreak day 11
Did: 4.87 mi hike w/ D, Robin, & Dale + 1.09 mi @ 8:21/mi
Beautiful hike to Rainbow Falls in Jones Gap State Park with Robin, Dale & the pups. Super D was awesome on this tough steep climb, but the views of the falls at the top were spectacular!
Did a 1 mile quick loop around the neighborhood when I got home. 
Super rocky steps!

Snack break at the falls

Bridges are cool


Lots of shorter runs this week but total over 27 miles!