Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Training Updates and a New Goal

Training Updates

I'm not quite sure how it is possible, but the month of November is upon us and I am staring down the end of my racing season. Right now I am trying to stay focused as the seasons of my life begin to change. Deer hunting season is upon us which means more time spent at the cabin and fitting in my training runs around my morning and afternoon hunts. Next week will be a true challenge as I will be at the cabin all week and will need to head into town for some of my longer runs. 

Mid-day run around the big field


Running along the river in Ottumwa

In addition to the start of deer hunting season, the weather has been changing as well. Days are much shorter and my morning runs are 100% in the dark again. The temperatures have dropped and I've had to start wearing my running tights and gloves when I head out to run. The trails and sidewalks that were full of morning dog walkers and other runners just a couple of months ago are now mostly vacant. It can be a depressing time of the year, but I actually find joy and peace in the silence and darkness of early mornings. 

Another change that is just around the corner is the start of basketball season. I will once again be coaching high school boys basketball at DCG, but this year I will be working with the sophomore team instead of varsity & JV. My primary motivation for making this move was to keep coaching but have a smaller time commitment. This new role will allow me to continue to train throughout the winter and will also allow me to spend more time with my family. Speaking of my family, Abigail started her first Jr. High basketball season last week. Sophomore practices are mainly in the morning before school which will allow me to attend her basketball games in the evenings (except for when I have games as well). I still have to work on my training schedule for basketball season, but I've been forming a general idea in my head. 

Despite all of the changes that are happening, I have been running extremely well lately. My training run last Sunday was just a little over 10K and I averaged 11:35/mi. My fastest 10K of the year, and it wasn't even close. In fact, I have averaged sub-12:00/mi for every run this week. 

Crushing it this week

I have a very challenging goal of running the 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving at a 11:00/mi pace. I think it is attainable, and I'm certainly headed in the right direction but I think I will need a combination of luck and having a good running day to accomplish it. I am up for the challenge. 

A New Goal

It has been no secret that I have an active run streak going. As you can probably assume, along with training for races this year, my mileage has increased as well. On my quest to catch and surpass 2019 Patrick, I continually monitor my progress over time through the reports in Garmin Connect. Last week I made a few observations that made me start to dig a little deeper. It turns out that I ran 123.3 miles in the month of October. Not only was that the most miles that I have run in a month this year, it is my 2nd highest monthly mileage of all time. If that isn't enough, I discovered that I have logged more than 100 miles each of the last 4 months. All 4 months fall in the top 10 for my all time highest mileage months. 

It has been an impressive summer and fall of running

That led me to another observation. As of today, November 1st, I have run 865.8 miles in 2023. Just last week, surpassing the 840.67 miles that I ran in 2019 and pushing me into 2nd most miles in a year all time with 2 months remaining. The only year of my life that I have ran more miles was in 2017 when I ran 1,020.95 miles. 



Now I officially have that record in my sights and have decided that I'm going for it. My new goal is to run more miles in 2023 than I have in any other year of my life. While this goal seems 100% attainable, it won't be easy with the unpredictable Iowa weather, basketball season, and holiday celebrations but with just under 80 miles to cover each month, I'm confident that I'll get it done. 

Thanks for reading!

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