Preface
Ok! Enough of this pity party with these “road to recovery” posts. 😉 The die has been cast, and I have officially registered for Run Rock n Roll Washington D.C. Half Marathon (RnR D.C. Half).
General Workouts:
Although my RNR DC training plan is supposed to begin on Dec. 24, I figured why not start now? What do I have to lose . . . aside from a little weight. As expected, it’s been a bit of a struggle getting out to run since I have not trained since August. I guess everyone has to start somewhere. Right now, I primarily have been doing 3-4 miles treadmill and easy runs. For this upcoming half marathon, I’d like to run it in 2:30 (or less). Thanks to Runner’s World online training pace calculator (link: ***), I now have some times that I would like to shoot for while training.
So far, I have been nailing the time range for my easy runs, but it’s time to start doing more challenging training run (e.g., tempo, VO2-max, and speed form runs).
I’ll admit that it has been a bit difficult to initiate my outdoor runs because it’s getting colder and darker out. During the month of December, I will have a little bit of motivation to fit in some outdoor runs because it’s that time of the year for Runchat’s annual holiday scavenger hunt.
Although there are 12 items in this hunt, I’m going to see how many times I can complete the list. Speaking of December challenges, I have a few more.
Plankmas:
A group on Twitter does monthly plank challenges, so I have a new challenge for December.
For this challenge, I plan to add a minute to each day’s challenge. I’m not starting from scratch because I participated in this challenge during October and November. Well, I kind of half assed October. Maybe I will break the 2.5 min time point this time around because I kind of stalled at 2.5 mins by the end of November.
Closing my Apple Watch rings:
Right now, my daily rings are set at standing 12 times (blue), exercising for 30 min (green), and burning 1350 calories (red). For this challenge, I would like to close all of my rings at least 20 times this month.
2023 km in 2023:
A BIG HA HA because it’s quite clear that I will not complete 2023 km in 2023. I guess that leaves 2024 km in 2024. 😉
Marathon Lotteries:
Looks like there will not be a Berlin Marathon for me in 2024.
I gotta say that I was a bit disappointed when I first opened the email because this is the 4th year in a row where I have been unsuccessful in the lottery. Not to be a bit of a hater, but it’s a bit frustrating seeing folks in my various social media running groups letting everyone know this is their 3+ time gaining entry into a World Major via a lottery. Bah humbug. Not to be a sore loser or a hater, but I don’t think folks should not be allowed to enter a World Majors marathon lottery if they have gained entry 3+ times in five or so year period. Well, it is what it is . . . I guess that I’ll receive my ‘thanks but no thanks’ for Chicago’s Marathon lottery in a couple of weeks.
Let’s not be so negative. If I’m not selected for Chicago’s marathon, I guess it will give me an opportunity to pursue Richmond’s marathon, which has been labeled as ‘America’s Friendliest Marathon’. The other day I was listening to the Marathon Training Academy’s podcast about finding community in running, and the panel sold me on this marathon.
Although the panel’s topic was a bit lame i.e., a bunch of advice that tends to work for a few people. However, the panel enthusiasm for this marathon was so inspirational. Ok, maybe they were so positive and inspirational about the Richmond Marathon because the panel did the podcast from the marathon. Also, I think Richmond Marathon is a sponsor of the Marathon Training Academy podcast.
Goals for the week:
I guess these will be goals for next week since this week is almost over. 😉
-Keep on keeping on. 😉
-Update my running playlist. It seems as if Eurovision has taken over a lot of my running (and general) playlists. I’m only saying this because 70% of my Spotify Wrapped 2023 playlist were songs from Eurovision.
-Get back to proper eating habits (e.g., intermittent fasting). For some reason, this has been REALLY hard for me.