And there goes 2013…!
Total Road KMs : 48 kms
Total Trail KMs : ~123 kms
KMs raced during November : 80 kms
Total KMs this month : 171 kms
Total KM’s this year : 2563 kms
Hours running : 23 ish
Cross-training hours (Spinning, Grinds, Strength training) : 1 BCMC, 1 yoga sesh, and a snowshoeing run.
# of Grinds/BCMC’s : 1 – Grind closed, but got up the BCMC once for my December Karma Challenge!
How’s my month been?
December was all about my big race of the year. It was all that mattered this month, getting through the race safely and without injuries, and then recovering the rest of the month. And I’d like to say that I pretty much excelled at these tasks and leaving December, and 2013, I feel pretty darn good.
December started off with a good solid 7 days of rest. No running at all. After November’s Beaststreak, I thought it was in my best interests to just relax, lay low, and let my body recharge.
And it did! I wrote 2 race recaps for your reading pleasure – the point form shorter version and the long short novel version.
After the race, I took another wonderful week long rest, and didn’t ask my body to do any exercise until I had 8 sleeps between me and San Fran. The first run? Ya, it sucked, for the first 5 kms, and then the pains started to disappear, and I ran a bit longer, finishing the day with 8 km run with Momma.
My next few runs were slow, easy, steady, not so fantastic runs. I liked seeing my friends, I enjoyed running with my family, and I really enjoyed the Christmas break.
After Christmas I realized that all of my runs had been on roads, or the path around Burnaby Lake, and I just wasn’t feeling it. I was just running because it’s what I was supposed to do. I was missing trails.
So, I got out on the trails 4 days in a row to finish off the year, and finished it off feeling the best I’ve felt in December.
My legs still feel a bit heavy, especially on the uphill climbs, but nothing is injured. Avoiding injury is the most important thing. I hear lots of different strategies on recovery after hard races, and after contemplating it this week, I’m prolonging the start of my road marathon training cycle for at least a few more weeks. My original plan was to start right at the start of January, but I’m going to give it a little bit of time, let my body rest, enjoy the trails, and put speed work and track parties on the back burner for a little while longer.
December goals?
- Survive my first 50 Miler. More than survived, I finished in the range I thought I would, and no injuries!! WOO HOO!!
- Survive my first 50 Miler. Double check.
- Survive my first 50 Miler. Triple check.
- I think you get the picture of what’s important to me this month…
- After that, I’d like to recover properly. Yep, I think I’m happy on the recovery train.
- And I’d like to complete my 24 Days of Christmas Karma. Yep, did it!
- Oh, and I’d like to end the year with more than 2500 kms. Double yep! 2563 at the end of the year. My original goal was 200/month adding up to 2400, but then when I knew I was going to pass that milestone, I bumped it up to 2500.
January Goals?
Hmmm…this is actually way harder than I thought it would be. I’ve got goals throughout the year, but I don’t honestly have anything really specific for January.
- January is usually a good time for me to lose weight, so I’ll rock that one.
- I’d like to start some serious speed work and training in January, but I’m holding out on that until my legs feel light and fluffy (for lack of a better word) before trying it out.
- Otherwise…I think I’m going to take January off from goal setting, just see what happens, what I feel like doing and go from there. No stress, no mess.
How did your December go? Were you able to stay active over the holidays? Do you have anything big happening in January, or are you laying low like me?
xoxo
-S
