The thing about goals is that they are usually planned ahead and you aim to achieve them. Well, I set a goal that I didn’t plan at all until the deadline was almost upon me.
After my long Sunday run (which wasn’t as long as I wanted but I’ll get to that later) I was looking through Instagram. I was browsing some running hashtags and spotted a post from someone who was 2 miles away from achieving 100 miles in January. So I check my Strava stats and found that I was at 140km for the month myself, and being the nerd I am I knew I need 21km more to get to the magic 161km – which we all know is 100 miles (don’t we?).
With four days left to achieve it, how did I do?
The Long Sunday Run
Most runners will have their long runs on a Sunday, I’m no different.
Out Sundays just got a bit busier though as Delilah and Verity have just started playing with the junior Town Band. This means a half hour session for them every Sunday morning. I can’t do much of a long run in half an hour. However, the band are currently gearing up for a concert so the session was a full hour. I dropped them off, whizzed home to collect the dog and we were off.
The previous Sunday I chose a pretty flat route for a 10k, so this week I challenged myself. I took a route with more accent required, and boy did I feel it. This run had a total elevation gain of 182m compared with 83m the previous week.
As I came back towards the town I knew I was pushing close to getting the 10k done by the time their rehearsal finished. I came agonisingly close, but at the stroke of the hour as I was passing the band room I was at 9.5km.
Never mind. That took my total for that week to 44.6 km, an increment of 2.3km on the previous week. I am certainly heading in the right direction with mileage increase.
Rest day cancelled
Monday was going to to be my regular rest day. Was.
However, in light of the proximity of achieving 100 miles in the month (July 2017 was the last time I manage that with 191km) I was up and at it at 5.15am.
I was going to do my usual 5k and a really steady pace to ease myself into the week. Was.
Despite it being a bit parky (that’s Yorkshire for chuffin’ cold), I was soon into a really nice rhythm. Not fast at all, in fact, my average pace for just 5:43 min/km. But it was one of those runs where I felt really good. So I kept going. It wasn’t for the boring stuff like needing to get home and showered for work I might have cracked out a half marathon!
Forgot the Fartleks
Tuesday was Fartleks day. Except, I forgot to do the Fartleks bit and just ran a steady 5k. My excuse is that my subconscious knew it was icy and didn’t want to risk injury.
I’m not sure what my plan was for Wednesday. Again it was icy and slippery outside so just ran a steady (almost) 7km. I know it felt good so again just enjoying the run.
100 miles!
Thursday was a weird day. I had to get up at half past midnight to get Grace to school. She was heading off to Austria on an exchange, but due to the weather they were taking no chances with their early flight and making sure they set off in plenty of time.
It was the last day of January though and I was just 0.65 miles (1km) from reaching that 100 miles milestone in the month. So, I got up a little later and trotted out 2.5km to get me over the line.
100 miles in January wasn’t planned. Had it been then I would have made sure I knew how far I needed to run each week to achieve the goal. But, I did it and I am really chuffed about it.
Closing out the week
I went out on Friday evening for a 5k in the snow. It was a bit slippery again so speed was not important!
On Saturday morning I finally got to run in daylight. It had snowed again overnight so there was fresh powder on the ground. But that made the 7.5km off-road run so fantastic. It was nice and easy on the knees, which was good considering my right knee had been a bit twingy.
All in all, it’s been a great week of running.
Goal setting
Setting goals focussing my mind to achieve something. It helps me get out of bed in a morning and get the runs done. So I’m setting some more goals that I hope to achieve. Look out for my next post where I reveal what they are…!
Thanks for reading.
Dave