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!