Wednesday, March 3, 2010

February in Review

It's that time of the month again (not that time of the month...eew... like I would declare that for the whole world wide web (WWWW?) to read....) my month in review.

February in Review
Total Miles: 124 which is up from 81.5 last month (compared to 54.37 in 2009). This is my 3rd highest mileage month of all time.

Time spent: 19:17:08.  I ran almost a full 8 hours more this month than last, and we were even cheated with only 28 days this month.  Heck ya.  (Last month was 11:25:01.)

Total Runs: 16 for an average of 7.75/run.  (whoa! that seems like a lot!) (Last month was 5.82/run).

Highest weekly mileage: 2/22/2010 — 2/28/2010: 35.0 Mi 5:30:49 (11 miles farther than January)

Favorite run: My tempo run where all was right with the world, the birds were chirping (I'd imagine, I was inside), the heavens were singing, there was a beam of light from above as I frolicked along on the treadmill effortlessly at neckbreaking speeds (ok not quite, but go with it).

Most hardcore run: I'd have to say my longest run to date of 16 miles was pretty hardcore.  Not only was it the farthest I've gone, but it was done with 3-4 miles of loose snow and roughly 1-2 cumulative miles of ice, and I *still* managed to have a faster pace than last weeks 14 miler.  Winner winner, chicken dinner.

Favorite Race: The Knights Classic Sprint (ha, just made that up) aka the footrace where I raced Nick for the length of the basketball court and *almost* beat him.
 
I'm contemplating doing a major switcheroo with my schedule this week.  I may be working a 12 hour shift on Thursday so I can leave work on Friday at noon to do my 18 miler.  This would free up my weekend (other than an easy 5 miler that would need to get done) for going out of town for fun shenanigans.  Could be worth it.  Or perhaps I would fall asleep at the wheel after running that far.... we'll see.
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Monday afternoon I was itching to get out of work.  SUNSHINE.  It was a'beamin' into my office window and my body was craving some of its awesomeness.  I rushed out of work towards home, and even toyed with the idea of digging out my capri pants for the run.  News flash Jeri:  30 degrees is still below freezing.  Also, you're dumb.

Luckily, I opted to wear pants (as opposed to capris, not like running around without pants was an option...ya) but failed to grab a headband for my ears.  They were a little on the bright-red-and-burning-with cold-side by the time I got home.

I headed out for 6 easy miles and was so excited to see so many people out enjoying the beautiful weather!  Within a 1/2 mile of my doorstep I saw my buddy Todd running, a mile and a half in I saw a girl I went to Bible camp with as a grade schooler and have still kept in touch with.  YAY for seeing people while running.  And the best part of the run was when I randomly followed a running duo around a loop around the park vs. through the bike trails per usual.  This loop was the exact same distance as the trail is and got me to the portion of the trail that wasn't covered in snow and ice!  Remember the hellacious loose snow for the first two and last two miles of my 16 miler?  Yeah, totally avoided.  WIN! 

I had thought I was running easy, but apparently I was running a smidge faster than that.  Luckily there were still some random patches of ice/huge puddles I had to go around/mud to trudge through to slow me down in some areas. 

I did 6 miles in 56:44 for a pace of 9:28 and made it home while the sun was still on the horizon.
1. 9:08
2. 9:18
3. 9:29
4. 9:47
5. 9:24
6. 9:34

After my run, I noticed something dark on my toe, and had just assumed it was some black lint from my work socks.  Post-shower I realized it was my first blood blister.  EEW!  I swear I was just boasting about how "prissy little Jeri is oh so blessed not to have to deal with gross blood blisters and only has to handle little dinky water blisters."  Well, I guess that came back to haunt me then didn't it?  Naaaaasty ---->

16 comments:

Unknown said...

gotta love the sunshine!

Anonymous said...

Love these posts! I'm definitely going to use your idea and dedicate a post to my month of running too!! Poor toe :( Those suck!

Susan said...

the nurse in me zoomed in to the large picture of the blister. :) i hope you take care of that!

snowy/messy runs are TOTALLY hardcore. here's to spring...

Anonymous said...

18-miler at noon sounds Perfect to me!! I don't like getting up super early OR giving up part of my weekend - I think you could swing it ;)

put a bandaid on that toe! ow oww

Alyssa said...

Awesome job in Feb! woo!

I'm guilty of getting too excited about this weather. I wore shorts on my run... hahaha. It was worth it though, my legs felt so freee!!

Ouch, blood blisters are horrible. Makes you that much more hard core though! :)

Pining for Pinterest said...

Yucky to the blister!!! Way to go on your mileage :-)

Jules said...

You rocked Feb! Glad that you are enjoying the marathon training, keep it up!!

Anonymous said...

WOW! that's some mayjahhh upppin' in the mileage department. way to go!!!! you had a great month. and sounds like you are really enjoying this training cycle.

blisters??? use vaseline!!!

J said...

ewww! lol blood blisters are the worst! Great job on February!

Heather said...

I love getting long runs done on Friday - clears up your whole weekend!

Glenn Jones said...

Way to go! Good month of running! Now to smack you around a bit...

Be careful - avoid the temptation to run each long run a little faster than the rest. You should be running them 30 seconds to a minute slower than your goal pace. The purpose is to stimulate your body to use glycogen as it's fuel source. Run too fast and you don't provide the proper stimulus. In fact, you will start beaking down muscle. I know it's hard - bt this wasone of the mistakes I made my first time around. It was a long 7 mile walk to the finish line.....

Aron said...

nice job on feb girlie!

Generation X (Slomohusky) said...

I will trade you my ankle pain for your blister?

Great effort - 124 miles in a short month. Good work.

Steel Springs said...

Great job in February! Sorry about that blood blister. Ouch.

Jamie said...

Great job on Feb!

Unknown said...

You had an awesome running month, especially with that crazy hardcore 16 miler!