Trying to Climb Back on the Wagon

I totally fell of the wagon. After such a good December, I've run 4 times in the last 4 weeks. :-(


What actually happened is that I got sick right in the beginning of January. Just a cold, but the worst one I've had in probably 10 years. I was bedridden for a few days. Even as I felt better, my core muscles were so painful from coughing, that running was not an option.

I finally got myself out on the treadmill on the 11h. The next few days I didn't have access to a treadmill, and it was just way too cold here. I know you guys in Minnesota thing 13 degrees is warm, but I just couldn't do it. (Maybe if I was training for something.) I was away over the last weekend with little free time, and I'm trying to get back into it this past week. But I'm out of shape. And it's still too cold for long runs outside.

Interestingly, I haven't gained weight. It's possible that being sick contributed to that, but I didn't really lose weight that week. I just don't get it. In a way, it's kind of depressing that not running had no effect on my weight. It makes it a little harder to get out there to run. I think my eating habits have more to do with my weight than running. At least at this point in time.

Anyway, I appreciate the people who commented and asked me what I've been up to in 2009. As you can see, it hasn't been great. But I like that you guys out there keep me honest, and will help me get back on track.

(Also, to respond to comments again: Obviously I didn't run the Manhattan Half. I'm thinking about Bronx, but I haven't run 13 miles in, oh... 5 months. Not sure of the point of just slogging through 13 miles - except maybe to force myself to put in a lot of miles. I'll think about it over the next week.)

2008 Wrap Up - 2009 Kick Off

I never did get that last run in because the weather on New Year's Eve sucked. Nonetheless, I had a very productive December, running 12 times for 63 miles. Maybe a little too much, since my right knee has started to bother me a little. But I never really felt like I was pushing too hard, so we'll have to see on that.

Total numbers for the year:
Runs: 101
Miles: 652

In comparison, I'll provide the previous two years.
2007 Runs: 136
2007 Miles: 1005
2006 Runs: 91
2006 Miles: 423

And so, I've slipped, but I'm not totally off the wagon. I'm definitely still ahead of where I used to be.

By the way, I love that I have all this information saved. I guess people kept running logs before the computer was around, but you couldn't get nice graphs like this:

You can see how 2006 started pretty slow. (It took me a while to recover from that first marathon.) Than at the end of the year I started training for a spring marathon. Dipped down in mid 2007 because of an ankle injury, and then back up towards the end as I trained for marathon number 2. I was able to keep up some okay numbers through the first half of the year, but then let it slip away towards the second half. Except for December, which is supposed to begin my upswing.)

There's 3 years of blogging in one paragraph!!

And so here we are at 2009. Well, it didn't start great. I did go for a treadmill run on New Year's Day. But since then, I've gotten pretty sick. It's "just a cold" but I've had fever, and total body aches. And now after all this coughing, my core muscles are killing me. I'm in no shape to run for a little while.

(Strangely, I continue to feel my right knee bothering me. Feels exactly the same as when I noticed it last week - even though I haven't run in 4 days. It's going to be a few more days off, so we'll see what happens to it with a little more rest.)

As for my 2009 goals, I guess I should come up with some. I think not having goals last year, really hurt me. I'll lay some out here - even though I might be behind the eight ball on some.

1) Get back to 1000 miles on the year.

2) Run a sub 7 min mile 5K. That's only 5 seconds off my PR - but that was a really fast race for me. This one might be tough because the local 5K's are in the beginning of the year. Later in the year are more 4M's. I might have to sub-7 one of those!

3) Run the NYC marathon. 3rd and probably final time, before moving on to others. (Or maybe just half's. Still undecided about that.)

4) Get back in shape. I need to lose about 13 pounds. I've lowered my expectations a little here, but that would have me weighing what I did at my last marathon. I've set my birthday in May for this goal.

But first, I'd just like to stop coughing....