January in Review

31 01 2012

First I need to thank mother nature. January in Wisconsin can suck. There could have been 3 feet of snow. It could have been below zero for half the month. It was none of that. There was one week I deemed it too cold to run outside in the morning. And maybe one day I deemed it too icy. Overall January was a good month. I started off the month sick and in CA for the Rose Bowl so didn’t even have miles planned for the first few days of the new year, but ended up getting the majority of my miles in during the other weeks of the month.

Overview:

Total Mileage: 94
Miles with Sara: 48
Longest Run: 13.64
Hardest Run: 13.64 miles on the trails in the snow. It almost killed me.
Races: 3

  1. Snow Fun Run 5 Miler
  2. Indoor Marathon Relay
  3. GLM Expo Run – 5K 

I think this was a pretty darn good January. I ran 35 miles last January. Of course I was running for the first time in four months last year and not coming off an awesome December, but it is still fun to see that huge jump. I’m pretty sure if I looked back further this is probably my highest January mileage ever. I can’t even express how nice it is to have this much of a base to go into spring training. I have quite a bit on the horizon in the next few months and goals to reach.

Next up: PR at the Warm Your Heart Indoor 5K


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Icebreaker Indoor Marathon Relay

23 01 2012

It is so much fun to just do an event for fun. When I signed up for the Icebreaker Indoor Marathon Relay I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, but assumed it would be fun. I was on Team Avoid the Lap. I have to credit the team name to Mandi. And for team bonding we watched A League of Their Own. We were very casual about this event, as in left most of the planning until race day. Goal: have fun.

To make it an even more fun “race” weekend, Maureen came up to Milwaukee on Friday because she was running the half marathon Saturday morning.  Like any good runners we decided to carb load the night before our races. And by carb loading I mean taking a tour of Lakefront Brewery. It is one of my favorite things to do when people visit Milwaukee plus Maureen likes beer.  

We followed up dinner with amazing cheeseburgers at Cafe Centraal, which of course included additional beer. We couldn’t go too crazy considering we had a 5:45 wakeup call to get Maureen over to the Petit Center for her Half. I ate some snacks and wore lots of layers while she ran. After the half we went back to my apartment for food and some rest. For her race recap check her blog over at iheartpikermis.blogspot.com.

We picked up Sara and went back to the Petit, but this time in daylight. It wasn’t too hard to find our team because Fit Milwaukee had a tent set up. Being the ridiculously casual team that we were we still had to decide in what order we were going to run. Annie offered to go first, followed by Mandi, then Sara and I was the anchor.

Annie, Me, Sara, Mandi

The whole event was lots of fun. We were situated with all of the other Fit Milwaukee teams so there was lots of cheering and people to chat with. The biggest downfall was that when you weren’t running you were standing on cement. Next year my yoga mat and/or a chair will be brought along. We broke up the marathon into 6 lap legs so we each ran 4 times. It was short enough I was able to really push it and recover before my next turn. I ended up running 6.4 miles in 49:41 which is a 7:45 pace! So fun to rediscover my speed.

Maureen and I had grand plans of going out for beers after the race. Instead we ordered pizza, drank one beer, and passed out on my couches at 9:00pm. We’re awesome.

It was a great weekend: I got to hang out with Maureen (we always have fun), I participated in a fun running event, and I snuck in an extra run on Sunday to finally run outside.


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Running and Beer

19 01 2012

1. I have run three times this week. All three of those runs were on the treadmill. That is so unlike me. Last month I wrote that I was learning to not hate the treadmill. I feel like I have gotten a step further. Monday’s run was hard because my legs were still mad at me from Saturday, not because I was on the treadmill. Tuesday was speed and that I like doing on the treadmill. Today there were negative windchills so I opted for the treadmill once again. Not so bad. I ran 4 miles and just decided I was done. I suppose I could have done more, but I didn’t want to and who’s to say I would have felt that outside. So treadmill, I don’t hate you anymore.

2. On Saturday I am running the Icebreaker Indoor Marathon Relay. I am on team Avoid the Lap (check out our profile on Fit Milwaukee). I really have no idea what to expect. I will be running a lot of laps around a track. I don’t remember the last time I did that. Oh well, we will have fun. And once again, I will be running inside.

3. Maureen is coming to visit this weekend. She’s coming to run the Indoor Half Marathon, but really she is coming so we can play and drink beer. On Friday I am taking her to Lakefront Brewery for a tour and on Saturday we will probably hit up a few of America’s Best Beer Bars because they are down the street from where I live.


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