Jumpin' January

January 2024 in review!

Total mileage for the month: 327.8

• Jan. 1-7: 72.9
• Jan. 8-14: 76.3
• Jan. 15-21: 70.2
• Jan. 22-28: 72.5
• Jan. 29-Feb. 4: 78.6

#jumpingjanuary, snow edition

Races:

• Jan. 1: Chilly 5k in 19:20 for first overall female and the perfect way to start 2024.
• Jan. 6: Frostbite Series 20k(ish) in 1:25:32 for a fast long run while I was in St Louis. 
• I haven't run two races 5 days apart for quite some time, but it went mostly well!

Feels like -19* run before sunrise

Workouts:

• Jan. 3: Hill workout of 2 x 2:00, 2 x 1:30, 2 x 1:00, 2 x 0:30, which felt really hard but I suppose went well because I got faster each rep - but we ran on two different hills and no one had Strava premium for grade-adjusted pacing so who really knows. 
• Jan. 9: Hill workout of 10 x 1:00 hills in the middle of a 12 mile run. I ran pretty even across reps and felt better than I have on any of these hill rep workouts so far. Again no one with Strava premium was on this run so we can't say grade-adjusted pace but I'll just call it a win.
• Jan. 12: 3 mile net uphill threshold with paces (GAPs) of 7:14 (6:25), 6:25 (6:30), 6:37 (6:15). This was the fastest I've run this course with 340 ft gain in 3 miles and I felt very strong. It continues to be quite interesting to me how amazing I feel on this workout and how very hard short faster hills are for me.
• Jan. 18: Hill workout of 6 x 2:00 + 4 x 0:45, where I had 1093 ft of elevation gain during my 12 mile run. The GAP paces for my 2:00s were 6:00-6:11 and for my 0:45s were 5:14-5:34, which seems about right. It was a hard workout for me, as always on hill reps!
• Jan. 21: Split tempo during a long run that went like: 4.2 easy, 3 mile net uphill tempo that was also against the wind, 6.5 easy, 1 mile rolling tempo, 1.5 easy. Paces (GAPs) were 7:21 (6:32), 6:40 (6:45), 6:58 (6:36) | 6:26 (no GAP available due to no premium Strava users running at this point, but I'd say it was probably a wash). For the 3 mile uphill tempo we ran the usual route, and I was not as quick as I was on Jan. 12, but for running against the wind in -4* wind chill I was happy with it! And it felt good to finish with the 6:26 mile with having 14 miles already on my legs.
• Jan. 24: Wild Card Workout, which was: 4 warm up, 2 x 400 m at 5k w/ 200 m jog, 2 x 800 m at 10k w/ 200 m jog, 1 x 500 m at 5k w/ 300 m jog, 3 x 300 m at whatever w/ 100 m jog, 2 x 0.5 at 5k/make the second faster w/ 1:30 jog, cool down to 12. My splits were: 1:32, 1:32, 3:08, 3:05, 1:50, 1:04, 1:06, 1:04, 2:58, 2:54. The WCW concept was inspired by coaches who give their athletes some workouts one portion at a time. It's a mental challenge not knowing what you're doing until immediately before you're doing it, and it is good practice at just running the rep you're in. Each person who comes to the workout is supposed to come with a pre-decided set in their mind, with a maximum of 1 mile in distance. The location where we are running these at has a flat half mile road loop, a track, and a hill nearby. You could choose 1 mile threshold, 2 x 800 m at 5k pace, 4 x 200 m at hard, 5 x 1:00 on/1:00 off, 4 x 1:00 hills, etc. The possibilities are endless! Then in random order we run everyone's portion, which is announced just before starting it. For this workout we had Casey, Karen, Lisa, Sally, and me, in that order (alphabetical order by first name).
• Jan. 28: 6 miles at 20k pace during a 15 mile run on our local 20k course in 7:05, 6:33, 6:39, 6:34, 6:39, 6:47. I averaged exactly the same pace I ran for a 20k on Jan. 6 (6:43), but I felt terrible for this whole tempo and fell off the group by about 10 seconds during the final mile. I could not have run another 6.4 miles at that pace on this day, that is for sure! 
• Jan 31: Wild Card Workout, which was 4 x 200 m at mile-ish pace w/ 200 m jog, jog to road, 1 mile threshold with an Indian Run (continuously repeating the back person surging to the front), jog to track, 800 m at MP, 400 m at HMP, 200 m at 5k w/ 200 m jog, jog to road, 0.75 at threshold straight into 0.25 uphill hard, jog down hill, 0.25 uphill threshold. This was the same procedure as Jan. 24 and our order was Lisa, Casey, Karen, me (youngest to oldest, oof). Splits were: 0:43, 0:44, 0:43, 0:43, 6:33, 3:27, 1:32, 0:44 6:15 pace, 6:24 pace, 6:28 pace. This was fun!
• Favorite workout: It's hard to choose because I loved several of them, but I'll go with Jan. 12 because I love the workout and PRed the course.

Hills for breakfast Jan. 3

Hills for breakfast Jan. 9

Hills for breakfast Jan. 18

WILD Jan. 24

Long Runs:

• Jan. 6: 15.5 miles, including 12.7 at 6:43 pace.
• Jan. 13: 14.2 miles (7:53) in feels like -1*. This week was abnormal because I ran 12 miles on Jan. 9, 13 miles on Jan. 11, and 12.2 miles on Jan. 12 because I kept thinking it was going to get too bad to run due to winter weather, so I'd better get at least a short long run in early. Instead I ended up with 4 short long runs for the week.
• Jan. 21: 16.2 miles (7:48) in feels like -4*, that included some work as described above. We had a tough weather stretch but I am proud to say I didn't miss any runs!
• Jan. 28: 15.2 miles (7:41), with a tempo workout described above. I didn't feel so hot on this workout or the cool down; I was going to do 16 but when Sally finished at 15 I decided I was also very done. We moved this run from the day before due to feels like 27* and rain on Jan. 27 (which I still ran 10 miles easy in, which I feel like is a major accomplishment).
• Favorite long run: Jan. 6 because it was by far the best weather and I felt great!

Jumping January post-long run

#jacketjanuary in feels like 27* rain

Running Highlights:

• A new PR for the coldest wind chill I've ever run in, -22 degrees F on Jan. 14. I credit this mostly to cold weather running gear being exponentially better now than it was 10 years ago! So, I have already set a PR this year. ;-) I had my second coldest run ever on Jan. 16, at -19 degrees wind chill. Before this year my best was -18 degrees. I do not mind if I don't surpass this PR, but if Missouri weather makes me I probably will.

-22 does not stop us

There was breakfast after this very cold run so that helped

Too cold to jump or pose

Life Highlights:

• OMRR annual banquet, a work after-Christmas party, and lots of reading!

Books:

Bold = 5 stars, but this month I read several page-turners that I gave 4 stars (I'm stingy with my 5 stars!), and since they made me want to read them constantly I gave them an asterisk

• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
• *Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapina
• Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson
• *The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running from Madness by Suzy Favor Hamilton
• The Elephant's Girl by Celesta Rimington
• Catching the Sky by Colten Moore
• Running on Veggie: Plant-Powered Recipes for Fueling and Feeling Your Best by Lottie Bildirici
• Today We Die A Little: The Inimitable Emil Zatopek, the Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time by Richard Askwith
• *The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
• The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan
• The Women Could Fly by Meg Giddings
• *The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon
• *The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush

Theme for the month:

• Technically jumping January, but Hills for Breakfast photos come out a lot better than jumping photos do before sunrise.

#justusjanuary

Jan. 31!