December Bike Challenge And Changing Weather

Tomorrow is December 1st, that means I only have 1 month remaining this year to make myself better and to contribute to what has been the most epic year of my life. To help me improve myself, I have set a goal of putting in at least 300 miles on the bike during the month of December. This time of year, that pretty much means spending a lot of time on the trainer in my basement gym. I decided on 300 miles because that will be enough to put me over 2,000 miles for the year. I chose the bike because it supplement my running plan in a very low impact way and  is readily accessible in my basement for early morning or late at night workouts.

As the weather grows colder and the daylight shorter, it becomes much harder to motivate myself to run outside. So far the fall has been very mild, but the past couple of weeks we have seen much more seasonable weather. Even though it is difficult to convince myself to get all bundled up and head out for a run in the cold, it always feels so rewarding to do so this time of year.

This time around I would like to pose a challenge to all of you. Maybe, like a lot of people, you didn't live up to some of the goals you set at the beginning of the 2016 or maybe you didn't even set goals because you haven't lived up to them in the past. Even if that is the case, I have great news for you, the year is not over! You have an entire month left to make a positive impact on your life as well as get a jump start on next year. So my challenge is, don't wait, get started now and find a something that you can do to improve yourself before the year comes to a close.

Running In The Rain And Turkey Trot

This was my run on Tuesday evening. At first glance, there really isn't anything special here. 2.63 miles is a relatively short distance compared to nearly all of my training runs and a 9:51 min/mi average at that distance isn't particularly impressive for me either. In fact, the only thing that made this run different from any other is that the conditions were miserable. It was dark, windy and cold and was pouring rain but in spite of those conditions, I powered through and got it done. Running is hard enough as it is without having to deal with adverse conditions.

As I was shivering and praying for the rain or wind to die down (it never did), I kept thinking about how representative this run was of my life at work over the past couple of weeks. Life, like running, isn't always sunshine and rainbows. In fact, at times it is down right hard and grueling, but I believe it is in those moments that greatness is born. We find out the most about ourselves and what we are capable of when things get hard and this is the best way to develop confidence. To be able to experience moments like this, we have to be willing to put ourselves in situations that are uncomfortable and may even have a high chance of failure. Running is one of the ways I have found to experience these special moments.

This morning I ran in the Davenport Turkey Trot 5K. This was not a race that was originally on my schedule, but I signed up to do it with someone else. I don't really feel like going into the details of the situation at this time, but for now let's just say that person backed out of doing the race. Since I had already paid for the race and Erin, her mom, and aunt Lisa were walking the 5 mile route, I decided that I would run it anyways.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in because I hadn't trained for the race and only started my new training program last week. It isn't that I doubted my ability to complete a 3.1 mile course (I'm happy to say that I can probably run 3 miles in my sleep), I just wasn't sure what to expect and I was questioning how much my heart would be in it. For the first mile I trudged along at a respectable pace for a training run, but as my legs got stretched out they were feeling pretty good so at the turn around (it was an out and back course) I decided to push it to see what I could do. I ended up finishing with a time of 29:19 good enough for 188 out of 978 finishers (that is top 20%!!!!). That time was 41 seconds off of my 5K PR, but my last mile was 8:24 which blew away my previous PR of 8:50.

It Starts

Training for my 2017 racing season has officially began. Last week was the first week of a 12 week pre-training cycle and everything went very well. The purpose of this training cycle will be to maintain my current running endurance while building up weekly mileage in preparation to train for my first every marathon!

So wait a second, did I just say that I'm completing a training program to be able to start a training program? You read that correctly. The first full week of February I will begin an 18 week marathon training program that begins with a 19 mile week, including an 8 mile long run. Another major reason for the pre-training program is to help avoid the temptation of slacking off during the holidays and as the cold weather moves in.

I haven't solidified my entire race schedule for next year, but I have set a schedule up through the marathon.

Saturday, March 11 - Leprechaun Chase 10K (Des Moines, IA)
Saturday, April 29 - Drake Relays Half Marathon (Des Moines, IA)
Saturday, June 10 - Marathon to Marathon (Storm Lake, IA to Marathon, IA)

After the marathon, my plan is to shift focus to triathlon training and competition. Oh yes, and my wife has challenged me to run the Bix 7 in a tutu, so that will probably end up on the schedule as well.

I chose a the marathon in Storm Lake for several reasons. It is a well established race that isn't too far from home. It is early enough in the year that I will be able be complete most of my long distance training before the summer heat and humidity set in. It is also early enough in the year that I will have plenty of time remaining in the triathlon season.