Time on the Trail is Time Well Spent (Week 5/52)

I had a good last week of January/first week of February.

Sunday - ran 4.8 miles
I was asked to teach our Youth class at church and was pretty focused on that while out for my run.  We were also having strong Santa Ana winds, so this one was pretty challenging.

Monday - Rested
It has been a long time since I had a migraine but I woke with one on Monday.  I use to get them every month (#hormones) but didn't recognize the signs until it was full blown. 

Tuesday - Rode 12.2 miles
This was my first trail ride in about two months.  My migraine was gone and I felt awesome!  So awesome that I left Les behind.  This is a rare occurrence.  The trail is in pretty good shape due to all the rain we've had recently.  Although this wash out made me a little nervous...

Wednesday - Walked 1.97 miles
I knew I wanted to go for a trail run on Thursday so I took it easy on Wednesday.

Thursday - Ran 8.07 miles
I kicked off the Strava run climbing challenge with over 1,000 feet of climbing.  This is an out and back with 900 feet happening in the first four miles.  300 of those feet happen between 3.4 and 4.0 miles.

Friday - Rested
Rained out.   We got almost a half inch of rain, bringing our total to over 13".  Great news from the California Drought website: "Currently, about 39% of the state is identified as drought-free. Areas under extreme drought conditions fell from 41% to only 2% over the past month."

Saturday - Ran 8 miles
I had planned to go for a bike ride but the roads were wet so I hit the hills instead.  My Suunto had about 800' of elevation gain but Strava gave me 1,001'.  Since Strava will determine how I do on the Climbing Challenge, I'll use their numbers.

February Run Climbing Challenge Progress:  618 meters/2,027 feet - 30% complete

Total
Running 20.87
Walking 1.97
Cycling 12.20
Total 35.04

How are the hills where you are?  Is this a challenge you could/would do?

February Focus

After a successful January, I wanted to keep on with a monthly focus.  For February, I'll again focus on two areas:

Running ~ Climbs All the Hills
Strava has a variety of challenges every month.  I don't usually pay attention to them, but decided to go for their February Run Climbing Challenge - "Leave the flats behind and climb at least 2,000 meters this month."  2,000 meters is just a little over 6,500 feet.  That's a lot of hills!  I had about 5,800 feet in January without focusing on hills, but with February being a shortened month this will definitely be a challenge.  I had thought about starting speed work this month, but since hills are speed work in disguise, I think this challenge will put me on track for a speedier March!

I did an 8 mile trail run yesterday that had over 1,000 feet of climbing so I'm off to a good start.  What this really means is I need to hit the hills in my neighborhood every time I run this month.  When the hills are looking like this, it makes the pain a little more bearable:

Health ~ Increase Fruits and Vegetables
I survived my no desserts January and am going to continue to limit sugar.  My plan is to allow one dessert a week.  I didn't write it as a focus, but I ending up tracking all my eating for the month of January as well.  I use the old Weight Watchers points system (from the early 2000s)  It's what I used when I lost 30 pounds and kept it off for years.  Some of that weight has crept back on in recent years so I'm working on getting it back off.  I know more fruits and veggies are essential to healthy weight loss and overall good health.

Any new goals/focus/plans for February?

January Recap

 

Instead of goals for the year, I chose two areas to work on for the month of January.  I am happy with how they both went:

Running ~ Increase Endurance
I ran 9 times for a total of 61.6 miles, walked 4 times for 12.13 miles, and cycled 9 times for 115.71 miles for a total of 189.44 miles.  My long run for the month was 10 miles.  This is the highest January I have had since 2011, a solid month, especially with all the rain we received (over 7" for the month.)

Les and I went for a trail ride this morning and I was pleasantly surprised at how strong I was.  Riding on the trainer has forced me to work on keeping a high cadence.  I did that for the entire ride today and had my 18th best time of 104 tries on the 3.4 mile climb that is the heart of the trail.  (Thank you, Strava for those details!)  For the first time in several years the creek is flowing and we had three water crossings.  I know I've been smiling when there's mud on my teeth.

Mother Nature has been having major mood swings around here.  Last Sunday we got about 2" of rain.  Things dried out and the temps dropped on Tuesday:

Winds started kicking up over the weekend and this was Sunday:

I'll take the cold over the wind any day.

Health ~ Decrease Sugar Intake

After a Fall/Holiday season filled with sugar and more sugar, I knew my body needed a break.  I haven't cut sugar out completely as far as what is found in our foods, but I haven't had a single dessert all month.  That is a big win for me.  Bonus is I haven't had any anxiety attacks/heart palpitations like I had been having the past few months. 

I'm thinking about my February Focus and will blog about it on Friday.

How was your January?  What is February looking like for you?

Recovery Week, New Phones, and More Rain (Wk 3/52)

After two high mileage weeks my legs really needed a break.  I put in about 40 miles last week from Thursday to Saturday and I don't quite have the endurance for that.

Sunday - Walked 3.01 miles
During church on Sunday we noticed that something was wrong with Les' iPhone.  With our travel schedules that is something we can't live without so Monday turned into a research mission.

Monday - Rode 10.56 miles
Les and I have had iPhones for years.  We don't upgrade often, as long as they worked we were happy.  My iPhone 4 was about 3 1/2 years old.  There was a bit of a sticker shock as we started researching our options.  We visited the Apple store, the Verizon store, Best Buy and finally went to Costco.  A very long story short - we switched from AT&T to Verizon, saving $15 a month for the same plan, and got two Galaxy J3 phones free from a promotion that Costco had going.  We are super happy with the decision and are already enjoying the Android experience.  We're really not anti Apple, but they did not give us a compelling reason to stick with them.  The phones came with 16GB of internal storage but Les was able to get SD cards with an additional 128 GB and install them on our phones himself.  Our biggest challenge is getting our music from iTunes to Google Play.  How about them (non) apples?!

Tuesday - Rested

Wednesday - Walked 5.03 miles
This started out as a run but my knees were cranky.  I think they were just a little worn out.  Every time I started to run they hurt so I opted for a long walk.

Thursday - Rested
It was raining again so I was happy with a second rest day for this week.

Friday - Rode 12.53 miles
It was pouring on Friday so I did another session on the trainer.  I did what is called an FTP test which is a whole post on its own that I need to write.  Our rainfall for Friday was over an inch and we have now received over 11 inches since the beginning of this season (July 1-June 30) and we now have more rain for the season than we have had in any of the past six seasons.

Saturday - Ran 7.01 miles
There's nothing better than the morning after rain in So Cal.  It was a cool 40 degrees and the skies were clear blue.  My knees were fine and it was a great way to finish off the week.

Total
Running 7.01
Walking 8.04
Cycling 23.09
Total 38.14

How was your week?
What kind of mobile phone do you carry?  Any apps I might be missing?

Rain, Wind and a Double Digit Run (Week 2/52)

And just like that we are through the first two weeks of the year.  This was my 2 runs/3 rides week.  We've had some more rain which is great for the state, but it adds some challenges for cycling.  I will run after the rain, but am hesitant to ride on wet roads.

Sunday - Rode 13.01 miles
This was my only outdoor ride this week.

Monday - Walked 2.04 miles
It started raining just as I stepped onto our driveway.

Tuesday - Ran 7.04 miles
I beat the rain by about 15 minutes this time.  Our hills are turning green.

Wednesday - Rest day
It was raining steadily.  According to USAToday the drought is over in Northern California.  We live in Southern California, just north of Los Angeles, in the county that is still dark red (exceptional.)  We've received over 3" of rain this month and nearly 9" since July 1st so we're hopeful.

Thursday - Rode 11.83 miles
It was raining again so I opted for the trainer in the garage.  Les has a power trainer and uses TrainerRoad for his workouts.  I rode for an hour and was surprised at how quickly it went due to the changing power numbers.

Friday - Ran 10.02 miles
This was my first double digit run since October 1st!  It wasn't fast but my focus for January is endurance so that's all that mattered.  It was cool and clear with a beautiful full moon.

Saturday - Rode 16.84 miles
After my Friday run the weather took an ugly turn - Santa Ana winds started kicking up.  We are under a high wind warning, which means gusts of up to 45 mph in the passes and canyons.  I was pretty sure when I went to bed Friday night that I would not be riding outside.  Les set me up for a 90 minute trainer session and again I was really surprised at how quickly it went.  There were two 23 minute interval sessions with a 20 minute rest between and about 10 minutes warmup and cool down.  I'm hoping these bike interval sessions will help me with running speed.

Total
Running 17.06
Walking 2.04
Cycling 41.68
Total 60.78

This is the highest mileage I have had in a very long time.  My legs are a little sore today, which actually feels good!

2017: Week 1/52

I had a great first week of the year!  I pulled out my old friend determination and hit the streets.  I was so ready to see 2016 gone that I was in bed before 10:00 on New Year's Eve.

Sunday - Ran 6.21 miles

Monday - Rode 17.5 miles

Tuesday - Walked 2.06 miles

Wednesday - Ran 7.50 miles
This was a trail run.  It was on the trail that I decided I needed to focus on endurance for the year.  The great thing about this trail is it is an out and back so it was a great way to kick off endurance training.  I went farther up the trail than I had in months.

Thursday - Rested
I was rained out and didn't mind a bit.

Friday - Ran 7.79 miles
I noticed a new park in the neighborhood.  I was thrilled until I didn't see a drinking fountain or bathroom.  I guess it's to save money, but it's so annoying.  There are probably a dozen parks that I run by that do not have any water or facilities.  The two that do are always locked until after 7:00 a.m.  I've gotten really spoiled in Hawaii - all the parks have full facilities.

Saturday - Rode 11.79
We got some more rain so I tried out Les' new trainer.  I made this hard by doing multiple intervals, pushing my power numbers to over 150 watts seven times.  The evidence was the puddle of sweat on the garage floor!

Total
Running 21.50
Walking 2.06
Cycling 29.29
Total 52.85

How was week one for you?

2017 ~ Focus

I've spent this first week of 2017 trying to set direction.  I went backwards for much of last year and that is not the direction I want to go.  I've been very active this week thanks to some amazing Southern California winter weather.  While I've been out I've had time to really think.  There are a lot of areas that need attention and I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed.   My list looks something like this:

All of these are things I need and want to work on, but doing them all at once feels like a recipe for failure.  I can't help myself, when I have a to do list everything must be checked off!  I stumbled on this quote from Steve Jobs that I found very helpful:

So my plans for 2017 aren't plans for the entire year.  For now, I am focusing on two areas for the month of January.  I'll reassess at the end of the month and make adjustments if needed.  I've picked carefully and here is my focus for January:

Running ~ Increase Endurance.
My running is off in so many ways, but my endurance seems to have really taken a hit.  To increase my endurance, I know I need to ignore pace.  That's a tough one, but that's what I'll be doing this month.  I plan to run 2 or 3 times a week and ride my bike 2 or 3 times a week.  My preference would be: Week 1 run 3 times, ride 2 times, then Week 2 run 2 times, ride 3 times.  I will take at least one full rest day and the other day will be an optional walk day.  Yes, I know I need to add strength training, stretching and foam rolling, but that won't be my focus this month.

Health ~ Decrease Sugar Intake
When I talked to my doctor about my anxiety/heart palpitations/hormone craziness, he asked me about stress.  My life is very low stress so that is not what is triggering these issues.  His next question was, "Had you eaten a lot of sugar?"  Oh.  Oh yeah.  I use to be really good about desserts - Les and I would split one a week.  That has not been the case lately.  I know sugar is in so much of our foods, so my focus for January is to not have any desserts.  I'm working on other areas, but this is my focus.

What does 2017 look like for you?  Big plans or take it as it comes?