January 2013 Summary

Runs - 23
Workouts - 4
Running Days - 23
Average Running Miles per Day - 10.7 Miles
Vertical Feet Climbed - roughly 25,000 Feet

There are certain time periods in the year when work for me becomes absolutely chaotic.  Roughly 10 days in December and the first 17ish days of January was one of them time periods.  You know it's going to be a long work week when it's 8am Monday morning and you've already logged in 10 hours of work on the week.  70 hour work weeks make juggling other aspects of life very interesting.

I am by no means complaining.  I actually don't mind it one bit as it allows me to enjoy the down time that much more.  It also forces me to manage my time personal time that much more effectively.

I hit my Running goal of 23 days for the month.  However I fell short of the miles per day simply because I didn't have enough hours (much less minutes) left in the day to do more.  Getting home at 11pm wired and maybe falling asleep by 2am leaves me sleeping in till 7am the next day.  Off to work and having an hour plus lunch window to sneak in 6 or so miles.  No ideal but better then nothing.

I took advantage of the weekends logging in some solid miles.  Highlight was the PPFA in the Springs area.  Graciously hosted by JT!  Well done my friend and thank you again!  It was my second year in a row to run the event.  I knew I was going to miss last years route due to the horrible fires of 2012, but little did I know that this year route was equally stunning.  I never felt great during the run but felt solid the whole time out.  Added on a tad more miles and vert from the planned course with my friend Hillary in preparation for Red Hot. Would have like a few more miles but couldn't pass up the temptations of cold beer.

Weightlifting has taken a back seat this month due to 1) a busy schedule and 2) the recovering right shoulder.  I ended up passing on a cortisone shot and opting for a time off.  At the end of the day it's a damn bursa sack that inflamed but thankfully recovering nicely.  While it's nothing I document on paper, I easily spent 3 to 4 days a week working on various body parts.  Core, Hips, Balance using only my body weight.

It's the focus on my hips that I am most proud of as I seem to pay little to no attention to that body part and it always results in the rest of my lower body breaking down.

Looking Forward

February 16th is the Moab Red Hot.  I'm still not excited about the huge increase to runners allowed in the race, but very excited about spending time around the Colorado Plateau!  Hopefully the weather is nice enough to drag the family out to the race and spend a nice long weekend around the area afterwards.

After one more weekend of solid running, I'll start my taper a good 12 days out.  This should leave me plenty of time to enter the race well rested.  After that, I'm taking the remaining 12 days of the month completely off.  February will be a light running month but hopefully I'll have a solid race effort to show for it.

I've also decided to add the Salida Marathon to the race list in early March.  I'll be treating this event as nothing more then an easy long run and more looking forward to hanging out with friends afterwards with some cold beer.