Treadmill down!

Last Friday morning, after 124 runs, my treadmill decided to act up.  Not terrible for a 500 dollar used heath club treadmill but I had been hoping for more.

I spent that morning diagnosing the issue (a squealing noise) and narrowed it down what I'm pretty confident is a failing bearing on the front roller.  Not wanting to invoke any further damage I have put the treadmill out of commission while I wait on a 125 dollar used front roller to come that I bought on eBay. 

Until then I had to toughen up and run outside...  starting with Friday after work.  5 miles at 7:29 pace.  

Running 7:29 pace on the day after a hard workout wasn't typical but it was cold and I wanted to get the run in before it got dark so I went harder... I was actually more like 7:38 pace through mile 4 and then finished with a 6:56 last mile to get the average pace under 7:30.

Saturday I got out and ran 6.26 at 8:20 pace.  It wasn't too cold... high of 34 degrees but there was a 14 mph wind.  My gore tex jacket takes care of most of that but it still sucks on the stretching running straight into the wind.

Sunday, I headed out on the recently plowed snowy roads around Brimfield.  31 degrees that day with 14 mph winds, snow flurries, and slushy, icy, half plowed roads.  My heart rate was in the mid 140's which was high based on the fact that I was running 8:30 pace.  The snow/sleet/slush/ice on the roads made me tentative with each step and if felt more like a trail run in some ways. I planned to get in at least 10 and then decided I better get in at least 1:30 and then figured I'd go a bit extra to get in 11.  Final stats:  11.02 miles, 1:33:26, 8:28 pace.

I am not a fan of winter, but at the end of the day, these runs weren't actually that bad.  I'll be happy to get back on my treadmill ASAP but in the meantime I will embrace the opportunity to keep building fitness and toughness. 

January is in the books and I've set a new all time record for mileage in a month.  234.88 miles (at 8:06 average pace).  This was 23.64 miles over my previous record of 211.24.

Between the extra running, the weight loss, the biking, plus the pushups and pull ups I'm starting to feel like I reaching the next level of fitness.  I'm hungry for warmer weather and some strong outdoor efforts.  I've only had one blue run  (run averages sub-7) since September, which was 5 excruciating miles on Thanksgiving.  I wouldn't' mind trying another fast 5 sometime soon... just need the weather to cooperate.  Nothing in the 10 forecast looks promising but maybe by my birthday?

2021 GOALS PROGRESS UPDATE:

AND.... since it's Monday, its time for another goals update

1. 10,000 pushups:  1405 on the year which puts me on pace for 16025 for the year.  Sprinkling in some bench at 155 on Mondays, but mostly pushups.  Goal right now is to work up to 100 in a row.  I can hit 60 pretty easy at this point... another target for my birthday?

2. 7500 pulls ups:  940 on the year which puts me on pace for 10725 for the year.  10,000 on the year would be pretty cool but I'm not going to get ahead of myself.  I've really been hitting these hard lately, working in sets just about every day.  Currently I'm doing sets of 16.  Would be nice to get these up to sets of 20.  I could likely do 20 right now already but I want 20 to feel easy.

3. 26 Hours on the Bike:  5 biking Mondays in a row plus a Tuesday.  No days off in 2021 so far.  With the extra workout plus some extra time, I'm about 3 workouts ahead of pace.  Kind of nice to be getting some X-training in.

4. 2021 miles:  234.88 miles, 58 miles ahead of pace.

I lost a bit of steam on my diet last week, but feel like I picked it back up over the weekend and have a renewed sense of purpose.  This morning I stepped on the scale at 165.6.  Reviewing my data from last year, I'm quickly approaching my lightest point...  It would be nice to see something under 160 by the end of the month, and then consistently in the 15X range by mid-late March... I have some lofty ideas of what 155 lb pace is gonna be vs 175 lb pace.  Time will tell if A: I actually get my weight down to 155 and B: I actually run the pace I think I could (Sub 62 15K in training or 6:39 avg pace).