Month(s) of December & January – Training Recap(s)

I missed doing December recap, so this will be a joint December/January recap!

Total Road KMs :  Dec : 175.25 kms  Jan : 200 kms

Total Trail KMs : 0 kms – I tend to switch to roads for the spring, & head back to trails after I run my spring road marathon.

Total KMs : 375.35 kms over December & January

Hours running :  40 something…

Cross-training hours (Spinning, Grinds, Strength training) : 5 hrs approx – December sucked for any sort of cross-training!

# of Grinds : 0 – CLOSED

How’s my month(s) been? 

BUSY!  Vegas, Christmas stuff, Mexico, New Years, Birthday, Marathon training started, etc etc etc.

So, what happened in December?

I started off the month by traveling to Vegas and running the Rock & Roll half marathon, which was one of my toughest halfs.  You can read about it here.

I took a good chunk of recovery time after this race, and of course that was real easy to do with the holidays.

After November being such a good month for mileage, I definitely slacked in December, which was good, it was a good time to give my legs a break before starting the next marathon cycle in January.  I only did 2 runs other than the Vegas half that was over 10 kms.  I ran a solo 15 km in the rain randomly one day, which was awesome, since I rarely run solo, so awesome, that I blogged about it here.

Our run club had our annual “Oh Run All Ye Faithful” which is a fun Christmas event where we all get together one morning, bring potluck dishes, and run or walk as many or as few 5 km loops as you wish!  We had a different route this year due to construction, so the loop was a bit longer, and I ended up doing 6 laps with Rainy, which totaled 33kms.  I didn’t actually do a blog post on this run, I blame the busyness of December, so here’s just a couple photos for you :

Tanya, Me, & Rainy

Dawn, Denise & Jay

 

 

Rainy, Me, Joanna – I think this was finishing lap #4

 

The tent – mulled wine, potluck treats, coffee, water, sign-in sheet, etc…

 

Sean & I with Guinness in his holiday sweater

Even with the extra km’s at Oh Run All Ye Faithful, I knew that I was going to have to run on vacation to hit my goal of 2012 kms in 2012.  We were in Mexico with family for 2 weeks over XMas, and during those 2 weeks I managed to get in 55 kms, bringing my total for 2012 to 2047!  I just couldn’t quite squeeze out 3 more on NYE.

I only had a few training goals which were :

• Break the 2012 in 2012 kms goal – 2047 kms!  Bam!
• not training for anything, so give the legs a break, no pressure – totally rocked this. 
• focus on cross training/strength training – totally sucked at this.  maybe 1 hour total in Dec.
• focus on keeping the healthy habits I worked on in November continuing – yep, pretty well, all things considered.
• enjoy the holidays, and a trip to Mexico for XMas with the FamJam – definitely happened! 

See pictures for evidence :

Since I missed the December recap, I never set myself any January goals.

So, what happened in January??

The last 5 days of vacay in Mexico I didn’t run, started the year off with 5 days off, partially due to the weather sucking a bit this week, partially due to a NYE hangover, and partially due to my running partner over the holidays, Momma, going back to Mazatlan!

Once we got home, I immediately got back into the swing of things.  I gave myself the first week back to get settled, and began my marathon training on January 13th, which gave me 13 weeks of training.  I talked about the core of my marathon program here, and have yet to recap the first few weeks.

My Birthday also falls in January, and I blogged about how I spent my 28th Birthday here.  We also had a birthday party that featured the Canucks & Heather’s cupcakes, but apparently we didn’t take very many pictures??

Totally stole that off Heather’s instagram, which, in case you were wondering, I now have my own account – look me up – SolanaLeigh

And, we had friends from Bellingham spend the weekend in Vancouver, their very first trip to BC!  Here’s a shot of Jessica & I running the seawall.

Jess and I did 22kms of bliss around the downtown, showing off our beautiful city.  It’s too bad she lives across the border, we would be perfect training partners!!

We took Jess & David up to Cypress Mountain – here’s a shot of the 4 of us :

After splurging on my birthday desserts, I decided it was time for a change, and joined my FitFluential family in doing a 4 week DietBet, which I talked about honestly here.  Being honest with the internet world was terrifying, but I feel like being open and honest about my weight is the only way to ensure change and accountability.

While I was in Mexico, I took the opportunity to read “It Starts with Food“, which I LOVED.  The book is so well written, it feel as though you are having a conversation throughout it.  It also really “dumbs” down the science’y stuff that always confuses me.  I decided to give the Whole30 a try, and started a few days ago.  I will be finished at the end of February, and I’ll re-evaluate at that point.  Don’t know what Whole30 is?  I talked about it here.

Lastly, I ran my first race of 2013 last weekend with Nikki, and it was the Steveston Ice-Breaker 8 km, which I’ve never raced before, distance or this particular race.  We had a blast – I blogged about it here, and I’m super excited for our next race together – Vancouver First Half on Feb 10th!  Also joining us, are friends Hilary & Dianna!

So, obviously, I need some goals for February!

• I’d like to hit 200 kms minimum every month for 2013, February being a short month, and racing a half might make this a bit tough.  Let’s say 150 minimum.
• PR at the First Half
• Whole30 for all of February
• Be successful with my DietBet – only 1.8 lbs to go!  Weigh-out is Feb 18.
• Yoga/stretching/strength – more, more, more.  Cath & I did yoga twice in January, and I could actually see improvement from the first time to the second time.

xoxo

-S