Monthly Archives: August 2013
3 goals set, 3 goals met.
In June and July I fell so short of so many goals that I was setting for myself that I knew things had to change in August. I didn’t document things this month as much as I thought I would, but that doesn’t mean things weren’t going well.
In fact, I’m ending August very happy. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t a disaster. I set my mind to 3 goals and I hit every single one. I immediately want to talk about how I could have done even more, but I think that’s just a natural thing when actually hitting every goal. Here’s a look at how they all played out.
1,000 push-ups
Enlisting the help of friends on Facebook and a shared document was key to keeping me focused on this. There were times in the month that I thought my arms were going to fall off, but now that it’s done, I’m ready to do it again in September with more variety. I feel stronger and I can see the difference in the mirror.
All told I did 1,039 push-ups, hitting 1,000 with a couple of days to spare. The 10 of us who did the challenge did more than 10,500 total push-ups, with a few people needing to log the final few days. The women pretty much kicked everyone’s asses, but that’s one of the many fun aspects of this.
10 mile map
10 miles for a long run
It’s weird to have such low running miles for a month (61), but have my long run re-established at 10 miles (officially 10.1).
I normally wouldn’t recommend this approach, but having so many miles on my feet from the past few years and being injury free for a while now, it was worth the risk to increase my long run to double digits.
I knocked that out on Aug. 24, so that feels like a nice bonus to not have waited until the last possible day. Plus the weather was amazing that day for August.
Bike more than I run
I did 10 miles this morning to get to 67 for the month, beating out running by 6 miles. By running less in the past two months, I really got an urge to start running more in the second half of this month, and I debated on whether to drop this goal. After thinking about it the past couple of days I opted to forgo a long run today and close it out on the bike to mark all of these goals as DONE.
On to September
I have a few goals in mind for next month, but with a new baby coming SOMETIME during the month, I’m not quite sure yet how much I want to push myself. I had such a good time hitting August’s goals, that September may carry a similar theme.
Long run … quietness
After I ran 10 miles yesterday, I had a lot to say. At least I thought I did.
I opened my computer last night, put the NASCAR race on in the background, and no thoughts came out.
I did the same thing this afternoon. Nothing. Here I am again tonight.
Dare I saw that I’m just so content about yesterday’s long run that I really have nothing to say about it? It was one of my 3 goals for the month and it was my first double-digit run since April.
Perhaps it’s because I was running with my friend Josh for 6 of those miles and got caught up in our conversation that I didn’t have to think about what I was doing. It was the 3rd weekend in a row that I had a run with someone else and the 3rd weekend in a row in which I walked away feeling extremely satisfied.
After so much time of things feeling wrong and not having much to say about it, it’s nice to have things going so right … with not much to say.
I’ll just let it be and roll with it.
Thinking ahead
With moving this summer and a new baby on the way, I feel like I’m on fast forward with life. Yet things with running and what I want to do as year 10 begins on Jan. 1, things are becoming clear.
I’m closing out this year with two races (Richmond Half and the Surf ‘n’ Santa 10 Miler) that should help set the tone for a more dedicated winter training cycle. I love the colder weather, but I struggled this past winter after catching the flu.
By not training for a fall marathon, I won’t end the year run down; instead I’ll begin headed toward a new peak. Figuratively and literally.
I’m once again signed up for the Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon in Roanoke, Va. This year I’ve learned that I want to experience new challenges. While I want to get faster, I setting PRs aren’t at the top of my priority list. As I look ahead to how I want to celebrate 10 years of running, conquering this marathon simply tops my list.
I haven’t run it yet because 1) I’ve been unprepared; 2) One year I was coming off injury; and 3) I’ve been scared.
I’ve been so focused on Shamrock every year that a marathon a month later never felt right. Next year, though, I feel more confident that I can approach Shamrock as a training race and turn my focus to Blue Ridge.
August goals update
- 1,000 total push-ups: Currently at 649
- More biking miles than running miles: Currently 41.3 biking, 40.1 running
- Increase long run to 10 miles: 8.2; going for 10 this weekend
Pushing it.
Push-ups. I love them. I hate them. I kinda sorta like them.
This month I’ve enlisted the help of my friends on this goal of 1,000 push-ups for the month. It’s turned into friendly competition for some, motivation for others and, of course, people who said they’d join but never did. It’s the first two groups that I’m most impressed with, and it’s those friends who have kept me going these first couple of weeks of the month.
In all my other failures to do a push-ups program, this time is truly different having longtime friends join in. Getting to a specific number of max push-ups isn’t the goal; simply gaining consistency, getting stronger and having fun as part of the process is what matters.
By the end of the month we’ll all be in a better spot that we were on Aug. 1. Then on Sept. 1, we’ll have to do something different to keep motivating each other. For now, though, the focus is on the second half of the month.
I’ve done 426 push-ups through tonight. As I write this 10 of us have done 4,450 push-ups. That’s quite a few stronger arms and cores out there for just a few minutes of work every day.
As for my other goals, I’m very much on track with more biking miles than running miles (28.6 vs. 21.6), and I’m pretty confident about getting to 10 miles for a long run this month despite having relatively low mileage so far. Over the weekend my mountain adventure led to some great time on my feet even though my mileage was less than the week before.
Speaking of the mountain adventure, here’s a look at that elevation change:
Back to the top.
After nearly 10 years of running, I’m finally figuring out what really gets me turned around when things aren’t going so well.
It isn’t motivational quotes; it isn’t conversations with friends; it isn’t looking at what friends are doing to try and drum up some friendly competition. The things I see every day does not work for me.
What turns this ship around is actually getting out and forcing myself into a situation that is not exactly comfortable. It’s all about doing something I know can be done, but will take quite a bit an effort to get there.
For me, it’s always a trip to the mountains that makes me feel human again. Specifically, it’s the climb up Sharp Top Mountain in Bedford that humbles me, and motivates me.
Today I headed up there with my friend Josh. As we started up, I knew how very real things were for me with hitting a low with running recently. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to tackle this mountain.
On the trek up, there were times I really just wanted to stop. Let me catch my breath for 5 minutes.
Instead we kept going, really only stopping once for about a minute, and made it to the top.
I can’t really explain what the feeling is like when you get to the top of a mountain. No matter where I’ve been or how bad or good things are, there’s always this renewed sense of hope that I get when I’ve reach the summit.
Now it’s up to me to capitalize on this feeling …
Bring back the visuals
6-mile run from this past Friday morning.
A couple of years ago I got really obsessed with looking at my routes on Garmin’s site. It was part of how I figured out where to add miles, and to see what other streets I was missing.
I also enjoyed posting many of those routes, especially the longer ones, here on the blog. Now that I go back and look at old posts, and examine my tone behind some of those posts, I think it’s time I start showing off my routes again.
I don’t want to do this in an obsessive way. Just a couple of times a month as a way to gain some confidence and as a way to get back to what used to be a fun thing for me to do.
I also have to stress the importance of doing this for ME and not what other people think about my non-linear routes. A couple of years from now I may be looking back at this very post trying to figure something out, and I’ll be glad it’s here.
August goals update
- 1,000 total push-ups: Currently at 210
- More biking miles than running miles: Currently 23.5 biking, 11.3 running
- Increase long run to 10 miles: No change since my last post
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