Some running stats and what’s next

I use Strava to track all my runs and workouts (Ben had suggested it to me, think of it as sort of Facebook for athletes). What I like about Strava is I can take a look at historical data to see how I’m doing and find any trends. Because of that historical data, I knew right away my heart rate spikes were so wildly out of normal for me last fall.

I took a look at my running totals since joining Strava in June 2017 and I was very surprised at what I found.

For 2017, the data only covers my runs since June, when I joined Strava.

Here's 2018. I ran fewer overall runs with longer mileage. And of course I broke my pelvis in May so I didn't run for several months after that:

But take a look at 2019. I would not have guessed I ran that much this year. For so much of the year, I felt as though I would never get back to my previous distances and times, or the overall total. And it’s true, I haven’t yet gotten there. But I sure ran more than I thought I did.

So what’s next? Well I did it. I signed up for a full marathon, my first ever. 

I had wanted to run the Garmin Marathon here in the Kansas City area. I liked the half marathon I did at that event in 2018 and I also like that it’s a local race. But the race date this year is April 18. I’m leaving the country on Saturday for most of January (a work trip) and that will no doubt crater my running. I’ll be in Manila, where it’s quite hot and humid and the air quality isn’t the best, not to mention I don’t know how safe it will be to run (thinking of traffic, not other kinds of safety as I’ll actually be in a really nice, safe part of the city). That was stressing me out, thinking of trying to somehow get the training miles in so I’d be prepared. 

So instead I’ve signed up for Grandma’s Marathon on June 20 in Duluth MN. This marathon has a great reputation for being very well organized and a whole lot of fun. I did crack up when registering because one of the questions asked if I were a grandma. Apparently the first grandma to cross the finish line gets a prize. Isn’t that hilarious?

I've got two training plans I'm evaluating for my training and ironically, the one I slightly prefer calls for a half marathon race on April 18. So I may end up running the Garmin Half Marathon this year!

Mind over matter

Last Wednesday, my running plan called for a 60-minute run that increased in speed throughout. I’ve done tempo runs (as these are called) before, but what I hadn’t done was an hour long run in 22F with a wind chill of 9F at 4:27 AM. That’s some wind, to drop the temperature that much.

But I did it, and then I had Kent take this lovely photo as proof that yes, I ran in that weather super early in the morning. I look so glamorous!

How cold was it? I always take a little snot rag with me because my nose gets really drippy in the cold weather. It was so cold that the little rag froze.