Lost my mojo? ...new goals!

 Felt like I lost my mojo a bit.  I was able to drag myself outside for 7 painfully slow miles on Thursday.  Really wanted to stop and walk several times and just did not enjoy it.  It wasn't cold out but it was gloomy and windy and I just didn't feel very passionate about running.  

I took Friday and Saturday off, mostly due to the holidays and having other things to do.  Sunday I finally squeezed in 5 slow miles on the treadmill in the afternoon.  I got another 5 slow miles in this morning.  Better than nothing I guess, and it didn't feel terrible but I didn't feel great either.  Just felt like I was going through the motions :(   I'm hoping I can find renewed vigor in 2022.  I know it's arbitrary but sometimes drawing a mental line can help facilitate returned inspiration.

I also totally slacked off on my pull ups over the 4 days I had off work.  Then I squeezed in 94 this morning before work to make up for it.  I feel "out of shape" but I ran 5 miles and did 94 pull ups this morning so I guess I'm doing okay overall.  At this point I need 100 more push ups and 57 more pull ups to hit my yearly goal.  

Speaking of goals, I may or may not have a chance to post again this year so I'm going to go ahead and review my goals from 2021 and set some new ones for 2022

WHAT WENT RIGHT:

-12500 steps a day...  I'm on day 1283 so this wasn't my strongest goal for the year.  

-5000 pulls ups...  5000 was my 2020 goal and started out as my 2021 goal.  Eventually I wound up doubling it.  This was tough but attainable.  I

-10,000 push ups.  10000 pushups doesn't turn out to be much of a goal.  Much easier than 10000 pullups anyway.  

-2021 miles.  Got these early and then got hurt.  Will probably end up with 2260ish for the year.

-26 hours on the bike.  Got this fairly easy too after getting hurt.  Not sure how I should be fitting biking in to my overall plan.  When I get up to 60 miles a week I pretty much just want to run and don't feel I have the effort left to bike.  When I'm less than 60 miles a week I feel like I should just run more.  Biking is good for switching things up in the winter, during breaks, and while recovering from injury.  

RACE GOALS

Here's my statement going into the year:  "setting racing goals seems frivolous but I'd like to run a marathon this year if it works out (the Peoria marathon or maybe even CIM).  Also would like to run a OCR at some point, break 18 in the 5K, break 40 in the 10K, and break 1:30 in the half marathon."

Racing is where I get to test my fitness from all this training.  Based on that statement 2021 has been a great success.  I broke 18 in the 5K (17:53).  I smashed 40 in the 10K (38:18).  I ran the Peoria marathon and set a 28 minute PR (3:11:27).  I never wound up running a half marathon but I could have broke 1:30 in training when I was at top fitness.  

I won the free turkey I was yearning about for 2 years although the resultant injury may not have been worth it.  

WHAT WENT WRONG:

-52 weight workouts...  started out benching and doing some other things but lost steam.  Lifting weights has very little appeal to me.  I'd probably squat and deadlift if I had a gym membership but for some reason it seems like to much pain at home (partially due to equipment and space constraints but mostly just a mental block)

-90 days of no junk food.  I made it through January but not 90 days.  I'll need to do that again to take care of my holiday weight gain :(

SETTING GOALS FOR 2022

1. 12500 steps:  the goal continues, I guess.  Not so much a yearly goal but rather an obsession at this point.  

2. 10000 pull ups:  don't think I want to try to do any more than 10000 after struggling to keep pace all year but don't think I should do less either.  

3.  5000 burpies:  I'm going to try to add burpies this year.  Think they might be better than push ups.

4.  10000 pushups:  Was going to replace some of these with burpies but WTF, might as well do both

5.  Hip strengthening routine:  Twice a week (104 times a year)

6.  30 hours on the bike:  30 sounds better than 26

7.  2022 miles or running:  If I can hit 2000 miles 3 times in a row it will be a testament to consistency.  I hope for closer to 2500 but we'll see how things go.  Based on how I feel right now 2000 seems hard :(

8.   I believe my weight is still a bit of an issue, at least in terms of maximizing my performance.  I'll dip down to the low 160s when I'm training really hard but will bounce back to the low 170s eventually.  I'd like to get down to 155 and see how I perform.  So far, I have had little luck controlling my appetite or at least making healthy choices.  May this will be the year I finally pull it off?

Racing goals:

• I broke 18 in the 5K but not sure how much lower I can go.  I'd be happy to break 18 again.  17:30 would be a stretch goal.  Lets go with 17:45 for now which is 5:42 pace.  
• Break 38 in the 10K.  (Would like to hit low 37s actually but we'll see)
• Break 1:30 in half (Would like to be closer to 1:25)
• BREAK 3 IN THE MARATHON.  I think it's finally time to set that as a stated goal.  It was a long term goal but after running 3:11 in tough conditions I think it might be possible with another year of good training and good conditions.  Right now Indy is on my radar

We'll see how it goes but even stating my racing goals is motivating.  I just need to get myself through another winter first.

8 miles outdoors

 Having been posting as much recently, partly due to injury and partly due to winter doldrums.  At this point I think the injury is behind me but I'm still taking things easy with my buildup to avoid reaggravation.

The big news is that I got in an 8 miler outside on Sunday.  I started out at 7:50 pace and ended in the 8:40s, so it wasn't exactly pretty.  The effort was definitely more than I expected and my legs were tired by the end but I ran the whole way and I didn't any pain besides the normal pain of running 8 miles while not being quite in shape.  8 mile is not great for a long run but hopefully with no regressions, I can build from here and be back in the double digits for January.

I thought I played it smart after my marathon but in retrospect I guess I ramped up too fast.  It's just hard to let go of marathon fitness, going from 20 mile long runs at 7:30 pace to 8 at 8:15 pace :( ...  the good thing about the injury (maybe) is that now I've been forced to have a hard reset and build back up.  I attributed this years success from building back up so I'm hoping this layoff results in more improvement.  

Mileage may be down but cross training is up.  16 rides on the bike in the last month with just about all of them at fairly high intensity.  I've now exceeded last years total time on the bike and last years Calories/Min. 

2021 Goals Update

1. 10,000 pushups:  9815 pushups... that's 185 left with 10 days to go.  I know I should really just knock these out, but it just hasn't quite happened yet.  

2. 7500 10,000 pulls ups: 9793 pulls ups... 207 left with 10 days to go.  207 pull ups are a lot harder than 185 pushups.  I don't think I could know those out in one session but I could easily know them out in 4 sessions.  It really would be prudent to finish all this up during the 4 days I have off for Xmas.

3. 26  38 Hours on the Bike:  I'm now at 39:10.  Not going to adjust my goal again.  Just going to count this one as complete.

4. 2021 miles:  I'm now at 2231.  Looks like I'll end up somewhere between 2250 and 2300 which is about 200 miles more than last year.  Would have been more if I didn't get hurt but overall can't complain.  

5. 12500 steps a day:  Still hitting this.  Some days have been harder than others.  I'm a lot less active during the winter.  On days that I bike instead of run I don't get any steps from the workout so I have to make them up walking.  With Covid I stay at my desk a lot more than I used to.  There are some nights where I get home from work still needing 6000 steps and have to walk for an hour on the treadmill with minimal motivation.  But despite it all I've got it done.  550 more steps today and then 10 more days to go.  

Recovery Road

 As a runner it's inevitable that eventually I was going to get hurt.  My real surprise is how long it took.   Almost 2.5 years without a real injury.  Now I'm spoiled thought and am not having the easiest time adjusting to the fact that I'm injured and trying to recover.  

The good news is that I'm improving and can run now.  But the hard part is that I still feel it in my hip and ITB and I'm limiting my runs to way lower mileage than I'm used to.  I got in 19 last week with some 4 and 5 mile runs.  I even ran 6 on Sunday at 7:30 pace.   That was a good effort and felt okay but the hip and ITB just feel a bit weak and I can't imagine just going out and doing 12 miles right now.  I'm also worried that doing too much is going to lead to some other injury.  I'm trying not to alter my mechanics but it's hard to tell.  My ITB and knee just seem a bit wonky... not hurt exactly but I want to keep it like that.

The real question is how am I going to get back to 50 miles a week.  Hopefully a slow build and as I build the injury will fade into distant memory.  My fear is that it will draw out, never feeling quite right and occasionally getting reaggravated.  

For now, I'm at least getting in as much work as I can... Hitting the bike several times a week, running as much as I feel I can and doing bricks to get in the time, plus walking.  It's working for now, and at least it's winter so I'm not really itching to do long runs outside anyway.  

My bike riding keeps improving over time and I can burn more and more calories per hour as I progress.  Of course my legs are a lot fresher now without the running but still satisfied overall with the advancement.  749 calories in an hour is my new record as of Saturday and I wasn't even really trying for it.

I feel like I'm limping to the finish line here in 2021 but I'm probably going to hit or exceed all my goals and hopefully with another 18 days left in the year I'll be farther down the recovery road and ready to get back to some mileage.

Month 12

 It's December!  2021 is almost over.  

I got a Covid booster shot yesterday.  I seem to be doing okay but am starting to feel a bit tired about 20 hours post shot.  My arm is unsurprisingly sore.  Didn't prevent me from biking and then getting my pull ups and push ups.

Still not running but I think I'm getting close.  Possibly tomorrow, or if not I think I'll at least try this weekend.  My hip will feel fine and then I'll sit for a while and when I get up I'm limping around again.  I really don't want to test it out too soon and pay the price.  I also don't want to wait to long.  Injuries suck!

Not too much else to report so I'll give an update on my yearly goals.

2021 Goals Update

1. 10,000 pushups:  9305 pushups and on pace for 10108.  Lots more pushups recently.  I'm ready for these to be done for the year so I can check them off my list.  Should be pretty close in about a week.

2. 7500 10,000 pulls ups: Also at 9305 and on pace for 10108.  It has really been a grind to keep up this pace.  I wasn't always sure I'd make it but I definitely should be able to with 29 days left and being ahead of pace.  I've been hitting these every day lately as well and squeezing in a few extra.  Don't think I'll get these done too far ahead of schedule but I'll keep chipping away.

3. 26  38 Hours on the Bike:  I blew past by goal due to my injury and am now at 33:48.  I could just be satisfied but now I'm upping the goal to 38 hours.  26 hours was 30 mins a week, so why 38?   Because I biked 37:39 last year... so new goal is really to beat last year. 

4. 2021 miles:  2165 for the year.  No new goal here but hopefully can get at least a few more miles in before 2022.  Right now I'd be happy just running 3 miles without causing any additional pain or damage.

5. 12500 steps a day:  Now that I'm not running this one has been a lot tougher.  I've just barely been squeezing in the 12500 but I haven't missed it yet.  I've been walking on the treadmill for 20-30 minutes in the morning after riding the bike and more after work.  Quite a bit of this has been at a brisk pace and steep incline so hopefully that's helping to offset the missed running at least a bit.  This is the one goal I can't get ahead of before Dec 31 so I'll just keep grinding.