Is Winter Over Yet?

Winter has just about come and gone. We have changed the clocks and the first official day of spring is today. I have to admit that this winter has been motivationally challenging. Last year at this time, I had just spent the entire winter training for a 50K trail race. I was up early every day, running long trail runs with friends, doing hill repeats, speed work, easy runs, and tempo efforts. I had lots of early season fitness as I usually do after a winter of consistent training. 

This year has been different for sure. I have been less enthusiastic about braving the cold weather, and doing a lot less running. In fact, I have felt like Homer. However, I have increased the number of strength training sessions I manage to get in, so I am doing a little more strength and core historically speaking. And, I have been riding my bike like crazy. I estimate that in the last month alone, I have biked about 420 miles. But overall, I am doing less these days, taking more rest, and trying to find a balance between couch potato and epic over achiever. Historically I am a "go big, or go home" kind of person in just about everything I do. One of my goals is to figure out a sustainable workout regimen that keeps the fun, offers interesting challenges, but also allows me to have time for other things. Right now, I am suspended somewhere in between lazy and consistent. 

I did start out the year running a bit. Despite not really training much, I did the First Day 5K on January 1st, the Snowy Owl 10 mile trail race the following weekend, and the Frostbite 15K the following weekend. All of that running without the requisite training did cause a few niggles and issues with various body parts including a little bit of a knee problem. So, now I am mostly riding my bike and trying to rehab the knee. I am hoping that I will be well enough to run the Monument Ave 10K coming up in mid April.

My next big event is the Cap2Cap bike ride along the Capital Trail. I signed up for two days. My plan is to ride from my house down to the trail on the first day, May 12th, and then complete the entire trail from Richmond to Jamestown and back. Since I am adding some mileage from my house, I am looking at a 110 mile day on the bike. I anticipate riding mostly alone on that day.

Since I signed up for both days, I will do the same ride on Saturday, May 13th. I am hoping I will be able to meet up with some friends and share some mileage and some laughs. Or maybe we just hammer. 🔨

So, who is up for some riding? 

A Day of Waning Motivation

In my last posting, I talked about trying to get up early to work out before work. Today we went in two hours late so I had the opportunity to get some kind of workout in. However I did not sleep well last night.

We have this strange thing with our house that only happens when it is very cold and windy. It does not happen during the summer when it is windy-only when very cold AND windy. I am not sure what is making the noise but there is a loud screeching noise that comes from somewhere on our roof. It sounds like metal scraping against metal. We don't hear it during the day or when we are downstairs in the kitchen or TV room but only at night when we are trying to sleep and it tends to keep us up. Last night it was particularly loud and even though eventually I was able to drift off, I had weird dreams, woke up often, and when morning came, I felt very unrested.

Because I was not rested well, when I got home from work, I was not too motivated to do my exercises. I decided to skip the bike and focus only on my PT exercises. I started with my stretches but after a few minutes, I really felt like quitting and just plopping in front of the TV. However, I did not. I got started with my leg lifts and continued to do all my exercises. There was one exercise that I cut short. This morning when I woke up my knees were bothering me slightly. I attribute some of the extra pain to the tossing and turning in the bed. When I roll over onto my stomach, that bothers my knees so I cut the last exercise short as it can sometimes aggravate my knees.

After completing my PT exercises, I made dinner and we ate. I had a little more energy after eating and I wanted to make sure to get some foam roller in. So I did the hot bath routine that sort of relaxes my muscles and then did the foam roller for 22 minutes. And then onto the ice.

Looking back on today, I think I did pretty well. I was feeling tired and unmotivated but I pushed myself to get started on the PT exercises. Once I got started, the momentum kept me going.

Another thing that helped motivate me was my fellow amateur athlete friends. Earlier in the day, I received an email from my friend Mario listing all the races that he was planning on doing this year. His list was impressive and helped me stay focused. His list of races is posted below. I won't be able to do nearly as much as he is this season but I can use his list as a motivator.

5 days and counting until I go back to the doctor. I am hoping his assessment of my progress is positive. We shall see and I will let you know. Thanks.

Soggy Bottom Boys Rogaine & Navigation – 6 hr Orienteering event – 2/27 – w/ Geiger

Monument 10k – 03/27 - solo

National Duathlon – 4/24 - solo

HR Adventure 10-12 hr Sproute Race – 05/08 w/ Geiger

Marine Corp’s ½ Marathon – 05/14 – fun run with a friend

Marathon Training starts 6/5

Shenandoah 100 – 9/5 – w/ Chieppa, Clay & maybe Jimmy J

SunTrust Marathon – 11/13 – or some other marathon either in November or December

Maybe another adventure race during the summer – depending on dates.