Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Three Month View

After reading a couple of January recap posts on other blogs, I thought it might be helpful for me to take a look at how my January shaped up. Since I recap each week of training individually, I don't think it is necessary to go into too much detail on how the month went. Instead I want to focus on how January compared to December in terms of training, and what changes I hope to see in February compared to January. I'll be calling this the Three Month View.

December

Total miles ran: 108.74
Speed sessions: 1 (tempo run)
Longest run: 9.43
USD (unscheduled rest days): 0
Races: 0

I am actually surprised by how many miles I ran in December. I would have thought it was about 20-25 fewer if I had to guess! For building back from run/walk intervals in October and November I made excellent progress in December. The mild weather also was in my favor.

January

Total miles ran: 112.47
Speed sessions: 2 (1 interval; 1 strides)
Longest run: 12.82
USD: 2 (1 weather related, 1 personal)
Races: 0

January was a bit trickier. The first couple weeks were spent taking it easy on my hamstring. I am pleased to see that instead of skipping runs I still put in 5 days a week of shorter, easier runs. The weather was less cooperative: some runs were modified due to the weather, one run was canceled. The only other run that I missed was the weekend that I bought a house/moved (can't feel too guilty about that!).

February

Total mile goal: 115
Speed sessions: 3
Longest run: 13.1
Races: 1

I plan to continue to build mileage slowly in February, but due to the race/vacation don't expect my monthly mileage to be much higher than December and January. This will be my first race in about 5 months. I'd like to see a bit more consistency in getting my speed work completed, however this is contingent on the weather. Having fun during the half marathon and staying healthy are my top priorities for the month.

4 comments:

  1. Way to go getting all that mileage in this winter! That's so awesome!

    If you have access to an indoor track, that is a good way to get speed work in. Or just a treadmill! I have done speedwork almost every week this winter, all on the treadmill. It's certainly not ideal, but it beats the heck out of nothing. It also helps make up for the fact that I'm running fewer miles. I'm training much less frequently but my times are still improving (or at least staying consistent), and I credit speed work for that.

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    1. I don't have access to an indoor track, but I am considering it for future winters. The snow and cold is really getting to me this week and it would be so nice to be running inside.

      I swore off running on the treadmill last winter. I HATE it and somehow always seem to injure myself. It is like I forget how to run or something.

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  2. You had some good months with great mileage! Are you looking at any other full marathons again yet, or just focusing on your half marathoning?

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    1. A little bit of both, actually. Since I was able to defer my registration I am already/still signed up for the Grand Rapids Marathon in October. My plan is to work on speed during the first half of the year while very slowly increasing my weekly mileage. Hopefully I will be able to grab some shorter distance PRs along the way. Mid-summer I will switch to marathon training and hopefully at that point be ready to tackle a semi-difficult marathon training plan.

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