January was filled with ups and downs, successes and opportunities for improvement. My plans and goals changed throughout the month and I adapted to them. Honestly, the month started strong and fizzled out towards the end, and I’m okay with that. (That’s some self-care for my February challenge right there!)
I ended the month with 30 days in a row of intentional movement. I only missed the last day because I didn’t feel the greatest. That has trickled over into this first week of February, but I’ve once again re-worked my goals and plans to something attainable for where I’m at right now. I will get back to my training as soon as I am ready – I will listen to my body and my mind and do what is best for my physical and mental health.
I am bringing back my “Banking the Miles” from previous years, where I compare mileage month to month and from one year to another. Except now I am not doing it with hopes of “beating” the past me, but being the me that I am now.
- January 2020: 50.0 miles / January 2021: 77.7 miles
- February 2020: 78.6 miles
- March 2020: 84.3 miles
- April 2020: 96.4 miles
- May 2020: 83.3 miles
- June 2020: 72.5 miles
- July 2020: 84.0 miles
- August 2020: 94.7 miles
- September 2020: 50.1 miles
- October 2020: 53.7 miles
- November 2020: 69.3 miles
- December 2020: 86.0 miles
- TOTAL 2020: 902.9 miles / TOTAL 2021: 77.7 miles
January 2020 Marathon in a Month: I took my 26.2 best mile times in January to create my “Marathon in a Month” – I ended up with a 5:28:39 marathon, a little behind my last two “Marathons in a Month”. It would be my second best marathon time if it were run consecutively!
What was I training for? About halfway through January I found out that the marathon I was training for (Little Rock Marathon) had been postponed to November. At first, I planned to stop following any training plan and just start running every other day and doing some sort of cross training on my non-running days. I realized soon after that I liked structure as far as knowing how much/far to run. And not long after that I realized I wanted a goal to shoot for, so I decided I wanted to train for a half marathon coming up at the end of April.
Any races? I started the New Year off with a 5k – The Breaking Stigma in Stride 5k, a virtual race hosted by Still I Run. I took it easy – it had snowed and there were patches of ice on my route. I plan to try to run a race each month this year, and my hopes is to run as many as I can that benefit charities and associations for mental health.
How is it going? I started an intermediate training plan for a half marathon. Recently I switched over to a novice/beginner plan, even though I am not a beginner, my mind and body were begging for something consistent but not so challenging. This past week I’ve taken a bit of a break – my sleep, nutrition and hydration have been off, as well as struggling with some depression and anxiety. Rather than push myself to keep going and risk injury or burnout, I have taken a break. I’ve still had intentional movement every day – mostly walking. I may jump back into my new training plan this weekend, depending on how I am feeling.
What do I hope to improve on in February? My February challenge is to spend more time on self-care and self-love. This week that has looked like giving myself a break from my training and being okay with it. I hope to spend some time this month trying meditation, journaling, reading, doing yoga, drawing and more. I also hope to get back on track with hydration and nutrition to support my new gentle training plan. I hope to complete the cross training program I had started in January that I really enjoy doing. And I hope to bring you all more content on my social media!
