Workouts - 7
Running Days - 11
Average Running Miles per Day - 9.5 Miles
Vertical Feet Climbed - 14,000 Feet
It's easy to look at the Running numbers and call it a bad month. However I call it an outstanding month. I had a game plan, stuck with it and it paid off nicely.
A few hard workouts to start out the month which included some great speed work and logging in miles clocking in the mid 5's. A nice 8 day taper. Successful race day. 12 days of recovery that saw me get out once for an 8 mile hike around Falcon.
I was a bit wrecked after the race but it had nothing to do with running. You see I had gone out to Moab solo and wanted to get back to Denver Sunday morning as it was my daughter's birthday. Alarm was set at 1:30am with the goal of making it in time for her 7am waking up. Funny thing was I couldn't sleep after the race. Just wired. Even after a full meal and a few beers. So at 11pm Saturday night, I loaded my car and bombed it back home. 350 miles in 5 hours and 2 minutes flat which included one brief stop along the way.
I couldn't sleep once I got home and I didn't get any shut eye till my little one's nap time. Some 32 hours after I had initially woken up on race morning. Took me a few days to get back into the swing of things.
From a running perspective, I felt pretty good after the race. It crossed my mind to run but it's February and I saw absolutely no need to rush back to it. I've never given a rat's butthole about my weekly, monthly or yearly stats. Therefore a healthy recovery was the path taken to close out the month.
I'm not one to give a "Review" on running shoes but did want to show off the new La Sportiva Helio's I received a month back. I was hoping to consider them a running option for Red Hot but the first pair I received were a size to small. Add in the fact that they ran out of inventory and I didn't get my pair till a week before race day.
One 9+ run in snowing conditions around Matthews/Winters Park. They fit pretty tight similar to the Cross Lites. However much looser around the heal which I hope corrects itself over time. They ran a size bigger then the C-Lites which is why I had to return my initial pair. Very comfortable as well. The cushion is there, almost to a default. I felt like I need to exert a lot of effort to run at a faster pace. Lack of responsiveness? Again, it's been one run but I look forward to putting in a long slow days in these shoes. However I'll likely be leaving them at home on faster shorter tempo runs.
Outside of a week off from the gym immediately after the race, this month was a huge step forward with Strength Training. The right should is still a tad achy but more so from tossing my daughter up and down into the air.
I've also decided to take on a challenge I use to take on back in the days. The 100 Push Ups per Day for a Year Challenge. I did 0 push ups in January so I'm a bit behind schedule. Feb saw nice steady improvements. I'm in a hell of a hole already but think I got a legit shot at hitting 36,500 by Dec 31st.
Year-To-Date Target: 5,900
Year-To-Date Actual: 1,520
Variance: 4,380
Looking Forward
I'll start out March on the road with the family in the San Juan's celebrating some belated birthdays so training will have to wait. After that though, I'm really eager to get back into the swing of things. Running will start out slow but I'm sure I'll be getting after it (weather permitting of course) by months end. Same with the strength training. I am really enjoying how the body is responding to weight lifting and plan to push just as hard this month as I have in prior months.
I've decided not to run the Salida Marathon the second week of the March. Tough decision to make but I've simply been out of town to much lately and the funds I'd be using for the race will be better spent come spring time for races. Especially for the trip to the State of Washington in May.
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