A Year Long Streak & a New FRC Season!

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” – Margaret J. Wheatley 

“We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey

Reflection time.  Finishing up June will be my 12th month in a row in with 100 or more miles.  Prior to this streak I had only ran 100 miles in a month twice my entire running career.  I may not be running a 7 min mile, but I'm out here crushing it!  Here's a recap. (more for me than you)

2020 was a terrible year, but it was my best year of running!  Of the previous 7 years my highest mileage year was 2017 with 585.9.  I ended 2020 with 912.8!  After my 5 miles tomorrow (to hit 100 for June) I'll be just over 663 miles!  Already about 2/3 of the way to my 2020 mileage.

Using the first 6 months to calculate an average, I am on pace to hit 1,326 miles this year!  That right there is why we reflect!  Why am I getting faster?  I'm running more.  My highest mileage years were the years that I was the fastest (2014, 2017, 2020).  It makes sense now that I'm looking at it. I PR'd my half marathon time in January after logging the most yearly miles ever.

Now here I sit in the midst of my most epic year of running yet!  I did half marathons on back to back days.  Capping a 3 in 9 days adventure.  I am signed up to run up Pikes Peak in 8 short weeks.  I am signed up for my first full marathon in December.  Bringing my 2021 totals to 8 halfs & 1 full for 2021!

So I'll end this little parade with...  Consistency is key!  

Now we're in a brand new season of the FRC training plan & I'm a pacer this year.  We'll have workout as a group each week.  Tuesday Track, Wednesday Social, Thursday XT, & Saturday Long Run.  Depending on what mileage you're targeting there are multiple plans to follow. The weekly mileages are 25, 35, 40, or 50.  Super excited to see what the plan does for me & through me this year!

Until next time...  Here are some shots from the last few weeks!

Shoes from Atreyu in Austin, TX.

Had some fun with a T-Rex costume at Track Tuesday!

It was was also pouring down rain the whole time...

1,500+ ft of AR gravel elevation at Love Hollow.

A small cave at Waterloo Park in Denison, TX.

Conquered Salado Mtn twice in AR.

Just don't stop... ever.

      “Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”

– Earl Nightingale

You know a lot, I mean, a lot of people don't stick to (or even start) something because of how long it takes to see results.  That's why I love this quote!  It's a perfect perspective.  So what if it's going to take a year to lose that 20 pounds, the year will go by regardless (the good Lord willing).  You might as well do those little things everyday and persevere until the results come.  You can arrive in March of 2022 a different, better, healthier person or you can arrive, best case scenario, just as you are now.

It's like I've said before, if a living thing is not growing, essentially, it's in the act of dying.  So do what you can each day to live & grow.  Do it for yourself.  Do it for your family.  Do it for whatever.  Just do it.  Nike may have been on to something with that slogan.

Here we are another week in the books!  This is the 16th week that I have posted on this blog.  I think I'm getting better at it, but who knows.  I've had between 3 - 24 readers depending on the week.  Not many at all, but the journaling is as much for me as anyone else.  I can't wait to look back in a year to see how far that I've come!  I also hope that this blog will help someone realize that average people can change their life for the better.  We don't have to be elite athletes.  We can't let ourselves become discouraged because our pace isn't sub-6:00, or sub-8:00, or sub-14:00.  Just do it.  Maybe we won't ever win a race, but 

1. We can put in the work consistently and see changes.  
2. We can improve & have fun at the same time.
3. We don't have to be perfect.

Anyway, back to it.  Tuesday was a hectic work day, so I ended up running after work.  It's definitely my least favorite time to run.  I've been eating all day, I'm in a stress overload, & I'm just tired.  I like to run early in the morning before I have any other distractions.  I just go out & enjoy the run.  I did a quick little loop around the neighborhood.  I stopped by the school for a pic with the half-mast flag, in honor and memory of those who have lost their lives to Covid-19.

Wednesday we are back at it for Hump Day double digit miles.  We did a few familiar loops trying to avoid the wind.  It was a easy pace, but I was abnormally tired for some reason.  I couldn't seem to catch my breath.  Raph & I did 7 with Leo & then finished up those double digits!

After the miserable run on Wednesday I skip Thursday and grab a lunchtime 5-miler on Friday.  With the snow event, I realize that I'm way behind on mileage.  Plus, February only has 28 days.  So we're going to have to push it to hit my goal of 100 miles every month in 2021.

Saturday I'm shooting for 14-15 miles.  That will just leave me a couple for recovery on Sunday & I'll hit 100 just barely.  We head out on a 12 mile plan with Leo & company planning to grab a few extra afterward, but by mile 9 I was in the tank.  Another crappy run, but as we know not every run is going to be good.  You can fuel right, sleep right, stretch right, & sometimes the run is just crap.  The important thing is that we keep going.  Run, walk, or crawl finish it out.  So that what I did.  This is the first run in several months that I actually had to walk. Like earlier in the week, I just couldn't seem to catch my breath. Leo & Raph stuck with me regardless, as they always do & we finished it up together.

Sunday about 4.1 miles to hit 100.  So that's what I do.  Through the neighborhood I make up a loop that gets me a little over, just in case.  As I'm running a storm starts rolling in.  It looks pretty rough.  Luckily, I finish up just before it starts.  It was nice to sit on the steps & let the rain cool me down though.  

100 February miles achieved.  Now on to March!

The Short Week with a Marathon to Love

WEDNESDAY

After 3 days of rest I got back on the road today. I planned to just take 2 days off, but after being on vacation for over a week Tuesday just didn’t happen. 

So, my calves were SO sore up until yesterday. I’m not accustomed to all the hills & my muscles told me so. When I say sore I mean sore even to the touch. Anyway, wah wah, right. 

Met up with the Turtles at 5am this morning for our typical long run day. It felt good to be back with the boys again. We stepped back in the plan to Week 18. That will land us on Race Day for the January 23rd, FRC Half Marathon in McKinney. 

Today’s workout was a 2 mile warmup followed by threshold miles. 4 rounds of 1 mile at threshold pace & 2mins of walking to recover. Wrapping up with 2 miles easy to cool down.  It’s written like this: 2E, 4(1T, 2min walk) 2E. 

After the warmup the four of us took turns pacing the  threshold for the group. The target was 8:30-8:45. 

It was a solid training session. My legs we’re still a little tired I think. My right calf is a little sore again after cooling down. 

Leonardo brought us gifts today!  Little action figures of each of us. The Turtles that is...

THURSDAY

XT Day!  For today’s workout I repeated the Week 18 workout since we stepped back in the plan to Week 18 to prepare for the FRC Half. I did add one additional exercise.  20 crunches. I've got to where i print out the workout.  I tend to lose count of where I am.

5 rounds - 20 pushups, 20 squats, 20 mountain climbers, 20 jumping jacks, 20 crunches, 1/4 mile run. 

Strangely it was 77 degrees in Texas on this December afternoon. It made for a warm workout. 

SATURDAY

Looking for a change of scenery, Raphael suggested we go to Tribute Shoreline Trail. It a gravel trail that goes down by the lake. 

It’s a 4 mile loop. The plan called for 12. So we were going to run the loop, run some miles in neighborhood on the opposite side of the trailhead, & then back around the 4 mile loop to finish by the lake in the daylight. 

It was windy & chilly. Starting out an easy pace, we made a wrong time & ended up on the golf course cart path. We made our way around & back to the trail. About 2 miles in, the back of my knee/hamstring felt tight. Not really a pain, but as I described it, a string in my leg felt really tight. It made it hard to run. I thought that it would eventually loosen up, but it did not. After a few more miles I decided once we got back to the trailhead I would stop. 

By the time we got back to the car we had hit 6 miles on the 4 mike loop thanks to the cart path detour. Raphael & Donatello kept going & ended up running 18 miles. 

I took an epsom salt bath, used the impact massage gun, & did some stretches. I didn’t seem to get much relief. Eventually I decided to do some hip flexor stretches. That seemed to be the ticket. It finally started to loosen up. The best I can tell, I just didn’t warm up like I normally do before the run. So hopefully all is well now. 

SUNDAY

The last run of the week was a memorable one!  A couple of guys from the FRC, who we'll call Chef & 911, planned to run their virtual Dallas Marathon today. I volunteered to cheer them on around the course & jump in at Mile 20 to help them finish it out. 

The weather was not optimal. It was 40 degrees and pouring rain for virtually the entire 26.2 miles. It was very impressive to see theses guys running a virtual race in these conditions. Most people would have postponed, but these 2 guys were committed. So a few of us buzzed around and met them at intersections & cheered them on. 

They powered through the out & back course that started & began at Chef's house.  As planned, I jumped in at Mile 20 to run them in. An infectious Orange Theory trainer joined for a few miles & kept everyone's spirits high.  

With about 2.5 miles to go 2 more friends joined us for the final push.  I was truly impressed with these guys. I ran with them for an hour or so & my hands were hurting. I can’t imagine after 26.2 miles. Wow! It was very inspiring to witness!

The icing on the cake was the finish. There was a top secret proposal plan. The Chef had the ring with him and as soon as he crossed the tape he got down on one knee & popped the question. It was an awesome moment to witness!  She said yes!

Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Chef!

A perfect end to another great week of running!