2008's numbers, plus a glance at 2009's goals

I made it well known that when this year started that I didn't really have specific goals with anything since I started '08 injured. So with that being said, I don't want to analyze my year too much -- I just want to put the numbers out there and let them be. I may sneak in a run tomorrow, but it will be minimal with my dog if I do. Can't you tell I'm just ready to get this year over with?

I've also added my 2009 goals based on my post from a couple of weeks ago using the "10 percent" rule. What actually happens will depend a lot of how the first quarter of the year goes. If all goes well with my planned 10 miler, my running miles may be closer to 2007 totals where I fell less than 50 miles shy of 1,000 miles. For now, it's best to just take things a month at a time and see what happens. I do know that cross training is now very important to my routine, so it'll continue no matter what.

Total running miles - 640.2
Best running month - August, 107.4
Worst running month - April, 22.6
Average per month - 53.35
2009 goal ('08 plus 10 percent) - 704

Walking miles (Garmin only) - 290.6

Biking miles - 232.3 (March-December)
Best month - October, 49.1
Worst month - August, 8.2
Average per month (9 months) - 25.8
2009 goal (9-month average times 12 plus 10 percent) - 340

"Other" miles (mostly elliptical) - 37.8 (October-December)
December total - 24.3
Average per month (3 months) - 12.6
2009 goal (3-month average times 12 plus 10 percent) - 166

2008 combined miles - 1,200.9
Average miles per month - 100.075
Best combined miles month - August, 148.4
Worst combined miles month - January, 63.1

The Top 10 of 2008

At this time of year, many people like to look back and do a recap of the year. Well, if I did that, it would mostly be negative since I feel like much of the year has been a disappointment when it comes to running. So instead of looking back, I'd like to do a top 10 list of the good things that have happened this year with running and working out. I think it would be good to close this year out on a positive note and flush the not-so-great '08 out of my mind.

#10

Finishing the Shamrock Half Marathon. So when I first finished this race, I was so mad at being hurt, but in hindsight, it was an accomplishment to finish it despite being hurt.

#9

Finishing the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach. Despite taking more than 2 hours to do this race, I am once again pleased to have finished this race considering how hot it was that weekend.

#8

Taking time off. With such an up and down year, the best thing I did for myself this year was to take off time when I wasn't hurt. I highly recommend it.

#7

The 7-mile Thanksgiving run. This is here mainly because I surprised myself to run that much when I hadn't done much in a while.

#6

Running a 5k again. Oct. 18 was a big day -- I ran a 5k for the first time since the summer of 2007.

#5

Bike riding at the beach. When the Outer Banks trip came along in June, it definitely interrupted training for the Rock 'n' Roll Half, but I managed to putt out nearly 20 miles on the bike that week. Any kind of working out is a plus while on vacation.

#4

PRs. I'm not all that pleased with the results, and I would have rather done this in a half marathon, but I did set PRs in an 8k and a 4-miler this year.

#3

Working out the week that Conner was born. The birth of my son is the #1 non-running event in my life this year, obviously. At the same time, I am pleased with myself to hit the gym a few times the week he was born. So many people have told me how hard it is to keep working out with a newborn, but I was determined to prove them wrong early on.

#2

Raising $1,000 to fight cancer. In the beginning of April, I raised $1,000 for the VCU Massey Cancer Center as part of the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k. While I ran it hurt, I ran it for my late uncle, my grandfather, my dad and everyone else impacted by cancer.

#1

The discovery of cross-training. It started in March with biking, but I didn't really get into cross training until October when I joined a gym. It's put a totally different perspective on things when it comes to being in shape.

'Tis the season

It's that time of the year in which there's lots I could probably write about, but at the same time it's nice to take a break from thinking about running or working out. My workouts have continued, but I just haven't found a reason to talk about them all that much. It's like I just want to get to Jan. 1 and then refocus on this blog and everything else going on.

I do have some posts planned this week -- I doubt I'll do a full recap of the year, but I'd like to do a year-by-the-numbers thing and perhaps a top 10 list of highlights. Other than that, it's close to time to just say good-bye to '08.

A Rollercoaster Month

When November first began, I thought that I’d get through the first two or three weeks like I did in October – lots of miles doing a little bit of everything. Well, that quickly changed with the birth of my son a few weeks earlier than expected.

Not that I’m complaining – the little man has been a bundle of joy, despite only sleeping in two or three hour chunks. As most new parents quickly realize, I can’t imagine life any other way now. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

November also was impacted by a crazy sickness that pretty much amounted to the second worst cold of my life – the worst coming about a year ago. That essentially led to a week of no workouts.

Somehow, though, I stayed determined to keep going and not let life’s happenings stop me from working out. I thought that if I could keep moving through these major events then nothing will stop me next time I’m training for something. In the end, I managed to not let November be the worst month of the year when it comes to working out. That in itself is an accomplishment. For November, I logged 30.2 running miles (more than April and September), 18 biking miles (the fifth best month), 15.6 walking miles (more than February and March) and 6.8 “other” miles (a tenth higher than the only other month with “other”).

As the calendar flips to December, I am pretty much approaching this month with the same attitude I carried through November. I plan to run, bike and hit the elliptical machine whenever I can. If the weather stays somewhat nice, I’d like to get at least one outside run in every week. My goals from a mileage standpoint will be to beat November. If I can the year like that, then I’ll be happy. It seems like only yesterday I was closing out 2007 on the lowest of lows, so I’m determined not to let this month be a repeat of last year.

Silly September

At the end of the month, I usually do some sort of month recap. I've missed some months along the way -- like last month, which ended with a race and I pretty much forgot about it -- but I usually like to take a look back on what has happened both positively and negatively.

If you have followed my blog, you already know that September was pretty much an off month for me. I did it for various reasons, but the No. 1 reason was to give myself a break by choice. Sure I've had some breaks in the past year, but they were mainly due to injury. I wanted a break by choice. It wasn't a complete break from running -- it was a break from doing things because of a race. My random runs were actually pretty good. I happily increased my dog's miles along the way as well. I also got back on the bike after a couple of months off it. I didn't get many miles, but it was enough to feel comfortable again on two wheels. The totals: 24.8 running miles (compared to more than 100 miles in August); 19.9 biking miles; and more than 20 walking miles. Surprisingly, when it comes to running, it wasn't my lowest total for the year -- that came in April when I was getting over an injury.

So now that September is over, I can finally answer the question of what's next. I have decided to run the Ntelos 8k in Richmond in November. It's the same day of the Richmond Marathon and the new Richmond Half Marathon. Simply put, it's a huge running day in Richmond. While it's not a "big" race when it comes to mileage, it's a "big" race with more than 2,000 people taking part in the 8k. That distance is what I'm comfortable with right now. It'll be nice over the next six weeks to have a few runs a week in the 3-4 mile range and "long" runs in the 5-6 mile range. It's a welcome break from what I've been used to for almost two years. I'll detail my goals sometime in the next few weeks.

I may do a 5k along the way, but honestly I just want to spend the next couple of weeks getting into a normal routine. My September normal is over and it's time to get refocused.

Looking back eases my mind

Ever since March and the injury during the Shamrock Half Marathon, I've been questioning myself a lot in how I prepare for events. At times in the past five months, I have felt like I should just do 5ks and 10ks and not worry about 13.1 miles ever again. Other times I have felt extremely confident.

Heading into this weekend, I keep thinking about the two weeks in July that I couldn't run very well due to my tail bone injury. After getting to 20 miles in a week before the fall, I simply could not do a long run two weeks in a row. But in the five weeks after that, I have felt the best I have felt in a long time even if I can't seem to ever lose the 5 extra pounds I want to.

To help ease my mind a bit about this weekend, I went back and looked at my training for the previous two half marathons. I added up the mileage for the 10 weeks leading up to race week so I could see how I've done this summer. In the winter of 2007, when I set my PR at the Shamrock Half, I ran 193.8 miles in the 10 weeks before, logging four 20-plus mile weeks. This year for the same race, I did much less with 139.8 miles with three 20-plus mile weeks. It's no wonder I got hurt, even if I was in good shape after marathon training at the end of 2007. So in the past 10 weeks for the Rock 'n' Roll Half, I have logged 201.6 miles, with six runs of 20 miles or more.

That really surprised me. I felt that my training in the beginning of 2007 was better than what I've done recently. I probably had better quality runs then, but getting in the extra mileage is important too. If I hadn't missed those long runs in mid-July, I would likely have 220-plus miles.

Another interesting note about miles is the fact that at about halfway through the Rock 'n' Roll Half on Sunday, I'll pass 100 miles for the month. It'll be the most miles in a month this year, and it's the first 100-plus month in almost a year.

Final pre-race thoughts
There's no question that I'd love to set a PR this weekend, but my main goal is to enjoy myself. I've said it recently, but running has become fun again and all that matters to me on Sunday is to go out there and just do what I can do. I'm not going to get flustered if my pace falls off, and I'm not going to get overly excited if I start off quicker than I plan. The weather may play a role and there's nothing I can do if it's crazy hot or if it rains. All that's left now is hitting the start button on my watch and then seeing what happens! Look for a race report sometime Monday ...

July (and more) by the numbers

In my mind, this month has been a disaster. But when I look at my numbers, someone should tell me to shut up and be happy with what happened after taking a tumble down my stairs. I think my issue is that I wanted so bad for July to be the best month of the year, but it just didn't quite happen.

I set a reasonable goal of 75 miles for the month, with the thinking that I'd probably be around 80 or so. With today's 5.2 mile run, my total is actually 79.5. That's just 7 miles short of my high for the year set in February. Had I not hurt my tail bone, I likely would've been in the low 90s. It's like I've suddenly set low expectations for myself with running.

July marks the third consecutive month of fairly stead mileage increases. It's almost hard to believe that my mileage was four times that of April, which I basically took a break after my foot issues. Basically since April, my mileage has increased 20 miles a month ... will that trend continue?

What's missing from July is biking. Before the injury, I got in 9.2 miles and was pretty much on pace to have 20 or so. My goal was 25. So despite things going great with running, I feel behind on things because my cross training -- which basically didn't exist until this year -- is way off.

Of note is the fact that I walked 38.9 miles, my highest total for the year by 7 miles ... all thanks to not being able to ride my bike. Walking isn't nearly as important to me as biking, but it's better than nothing I guess.

My official training numbers since June 1 are as follows: 140 running miles, 58.4 walking miles and 51.7 biking miles (thanks to a great week in the Outer Banks). For the year, I have 641 total miles, which are broken down like this: 381.7 running, 162.9 walking and 96.4 biking.

It's no secret that I'd love to hit 1,000 miles in a 12 month span, so if it's to happen between July 2008 and June 2009, I'm off to a good start. To hit 1,000 miles, I have to average slightly more than 83 miles a month. August is going to be good -- my goal is for 90-plus miles. After that, I'll have to figure out if pursuing 1,000 is what I want to do. As for now, my tail bone needs a break from sitting at the computer ...

June is in the bag

At the beginning of the month, my goals were to get between 60-65 running miles and about 25 miles of biking. Well, last night I headed out on my long run for the week, but ran into a few issues -- there was a storm on the way, I was tired from the night before from being at my 17th Dave Matthews Band show (19th if you count two Dave & Tim shows), it was a different time of the day for me and I'm battling some sort of weird chest cold. So when I heard a rumble of thunder, I headed home cutting my run to 5.3 miles. My goal this week was just 6, so I figured that was good enough considering how I felt. I don't want to run myself sick again.

When I added up my miles though, I was just shy of 60 miles for the month. With a trip to the Outer Banks throwing everything off, I didn't even realize how close I was to 60 miles. I knew I was short ... but not less than a quarter mile short! So, with my dog this morning I finished what I started last night and got in 0.7 miles.

After recalculating a math error at the end of May, which sort of threw off the first part of June, my totals for June were: 60.5 miles running, 42.5 miles biking - much of that in the Outer Banks - and walking 19.5 miles. I lifted weights in some form seven times during the month and I totaled nearly 10 minutes of plank work on my abs. While May was a get-back-on-my-feet month, June was about getting back into shape and feeling good about it.

With two months to go to the next big race, I couldn't ask to be in a better place right now. This year has been so up and down, so it's nice to put together two months like this without being hurt. My yearly totals halfway through 2008 are: 310.9 running miles, 127 walking miles, and 87.6 biking miles. Having notched 525.5 miles running, walking and biking, I'm well on pace to hit more than 1,000 miles combined. While it would be awesome to run 1,000 miles in a year, you're not going to see me run nearly 700 miles from July to December. Thanks injuries.

Looking ahead to July, my biggest running goals come with the long run. My goals right now are to do 7 this week, 8 on July 12 or 13, 9 on July 19 or 20 and 10 on July 26 or 27. I'll be doing my mile test this week, so it'll be interesting to see what my time is compared to June. For the month, I'll be shooting for about 75 miles. With biking, I'll again aim for 25 miles. With my weight lifting, I'm planning to cut back on the weight a bit and do more reps. I built up pretty good in June, but I think it's time to scale back just a tad.


Workouts since last post
June 28: Doesn't a DMB concert count as cross training?
June 29: Walk - 0.3; Run - 5.3
June 30: Walk - 0.9; Run - 0.7; Weights; Plank - 2:30 total (:53 max)
Week totals, plus June 30: Walk - 8.5; Run - 17.6; Bike - 8.2

May: Twice as nice as April

In this final week of non-training, I laid off running a bit to give my feet some extra rest before I began official training on June 1 for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach. It gave me a chance these past couple of days to get a little more comfortable on the bike to know I can easily do 4-6 miles starting off on my cross-training days. It's better than being completely unfamiliar with how my body will do on a bike.

To sum up May, I'll admit that I'm a bit disappointed that my mileage totals aren't higher, but I knew coming into this month that I'd have to take things slow. I knew this was a transition month -- it was about building some kind of base without injuring myself. So, the goal of being injury-free was easily accomplished. When adding up my miles, I ran 40.8 miles and biked 21.6 -- both more than twice my mileage in injury-plagued April. I also got in at least 20.9 miles of walking. I also lifted weights six days out of the month -- less than what I wanted, but I'm noticing improvements each time I lift. The month was also interrupted by being out of town for five days, so all in all I'd have to say I'm pleased with how the month played out.

For the year, my running total is 250.4 miles; I've walked at least 107.5 miles; and I've logged 45.1 miles in biking. Everything would be much higher if not for my injuries.

Looking ahead to June, my plan for my first week of training is to get in about 15 miles, one day of biking and one day of weight lifting. The second week is going to be a challenge since I am traveling to the Outer Banks for a friend's wedding. It'll be nice to get away and run along the beach, but it kind of throws a kink into early training plans. Running-wise for the month, I'd like to hit 60-65 miles. I'd like to get in about 25 biking miles as well. I don't want too big of an increase so I don't burn out too quickly. I have to remember this is just a half marathon and not a full marathon that I'm getting ready for. I want to increase my long runs slowly and hit double digits again by the end of July.

I know that the half is still a little ways off, but my early goals are to set a PR for that distance. I'll be turning 30 in a few weeks, so it would be a great way to start off a new decade. There are some other races this summer that I'll be doing that'll hopefully get me ready for the half. Like I have discussed before, it would be great to set PRs in a 5k and 10k, but right now I'm focused on staying healthy and building my mileage up.

The good, the bad and the ugly of April

17 days of rain totaling more than 8 inches. That sums up Richmond in April. It was very unmotivating at times ... every weekend featured rain, so even if I really wanted to go out and run or bike, the weather wasn't cooperating.

So, let me try and recap this month. First the good. The good really has to be the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k early in the month. While my time wasn't what I would normally want, I was pleased with it and running for a great cause. I also walked more than 30 miles this month. The only other good to come out of this month was lifting weights six times during the month, all of those sessions coming after April 14.

Now to the bad and the ugly - I'll let you figure out what's "bad" and what's "ugly." Since I've basically been getting over an injury, I logged just a little more than 30 miles running. Keep in mind 6.2 miles of that was in one day. My longest run besides the race was only 3 miles. I only biked about 10 miles. When I had the time to bike - mostly on the weekends - it seemed like it was raining.

So, all in all, April has been awful. I'll see in a couple of weeks if it's a good thing that I rested up. I'm eager to get back to consistency with running and with everything else and May will be a good test. I had hoped April would be that month, but with a hurt foot and miserable spring weather, it was a little tough to think positively. Now it's time to move on to bigger and better things ...

March madness

This month started off right. I was well on my way to 100-plus miles in one of the oddest weather months of the year. But then came the bizarre injury that won't leave me alone.

To sum up this month, I don't have much to say. I finished with 51.9 miles ran, 15 miles walked and 13.6 miles biked. For the year I've logged 182 running miles, at least 52.4 walking miles and the new 13.6 biking miles. All told, it's 248 exercise miles for the first quarter. Below is an interesting look at my mileage so far this year by week (Blue line is running; red is walking; and orangish is biking).

Right now, I'm ready to put this quarter behind me. There have been a lot of ups and downs that I've already talked to death. Tomorrow is April 1. It's a new calendar year for this blog; it's a new quarter for the calendar year; and it's time to stop hurting.

Fantastic February

What's in a month? For me, the second month of the year this year was all about getting back on track ... and then some. When January ended, I was really doubting myself and how I could get ready for next month's race. Twenty-nine days later, I say: Bring it on.

I finished the month with 86.5 miles, about 9 miles more than February 2007, brining my yearly total to 128.8 miles. If all goes as planned this weekend, I will pass the 100-mile mark in a 31-day span. Not a bad way to kick off March. Now that I've gotten away from my lousy January, I realize now how important it was for my body to get some rest and recover from last year. I'm ending this month feeling the best I've felt in a long time.

January '08

Looking back on the first month of the year, there is part of me that feels like it was a wasted month. But when I add up the miles and look at where I've came since taking a full week off running altogether, it wasn't too bad. It's also the first month I've logged how many miles I walked, so that helps me feel better about things, too.

All told, I ran 42.3 miles and walked 22.7. Starting the month off injured, I really didn't have any specific goals in mind, so finishing with more than 40 feels pretty good. Had I not been hurt, I would have loved to have started the year in the mid-60s to around 70.

Now that I finally feel like I'm over the post-marathon blues, the crazy December sickness and then my foot issues, I'm eager to build my mileage up between now and the half marathon. So it's time to have a plan and set myself up to peak at the right time. For February, my goal is to hit 70 miles. Seventy is a nice round number to shoot for as I continue to gradually build my mileage up.

It's time to put January behind me and get on with the rest of the year ...