To Dopey 2020 and Beyond!

[KevM]

This past week I've started reading the training journals that everyone has been writing and have been liking them. So I've decided to try my hand at one. if nothing else, it can't hurt as an extra layer of motivation for all the goals I have for myself this year. So here we go.

Background through Now

My name is Kevin. I'm 36 and live in suburban Philadelphia. Growing up I played soccer all the way through high school, but running for the sake of run was not something I had any interest in. When I graduated high school I was actually underweight, so when I put some pounds on during college I didn't really think anything of it. I first started running in late 2011 when the pounds kept coming and I got up what at that point had been my heaviest. The running at that time was only about being a part of losing weight and I didn't really get enjoyment out of it. During that time I didn't really do many races. I did a few 5Ks, one 5 miler and a tough mudder (because some friends talked me into it). So by mid 2013 when my weight was back down to where I wanted it, I pretty much stopped running.

So jump forward to October 1, 2016. After waking up after another blackout night (2 beers at happy hour Friday night - waking up about 8 AM at home Saturday morning, something that was turning into a theme), I decided I had to acknowledge the fact that I was an alcoholic. Alcoholism runs on both sides of my family and I had a couple of family members proceed me into recovery,. The reason I bring this up is because sobriety is what brought me back to running. When I was about 6 months sober I started to think about how I would celebrate 1 year and decided to do something I wouldn't have done while drinking; run a half marathon. I started looking and saw that Ocean City, NJ had their half-marathon exactly one week before my 1 year anniversary, so I signed up for it.

That first half-marathon was tough. That year there was a heat wave the end of Setpember and it got up to 91 during the race. It took me a little over 3 hours to complete, but complete it I did and I was thrilled. Even with that though, I wasn't sure if I really felt like keeping up with this running thing. However, shortly after I was done with the half-marathon an aunt told me she was going to WDW to run the Darkside 10K and asked if I was interested in running the half. I jumped at that chance. While training for the Darkside half-marathon something just kind of happened and I started to really enjoy the long runs and I decided I was going to stick with this running thing. Since then I've done a couple of 5Ks, a 10K, the OCNJ half-marathon a second time (which I PR'ed and have decided is going to be a tradition/nice anniversary gift to myself), and then this past November I did my first marathon (the Philadelphia Marathon). Which brings us up to January 2019. On New Year's Day I ran a 5K and PR'ed it.

Going Forward

2019 Goals:

- Run 1,500 miles (in 2018, without paying attention to my yearly mileage, I ran 1,017 miles).
- Run a minimum of 26 races
- Run my first trail race (that was supposed to be today, but with conditions being below freezing and on a trail I have never been on, I decided discretion was the better part of valor. So I need to find another trail race).
- Run an Indoor Triathlon (doing this 1/27/19).
- Run a Triathlon
- Time goals
-5K: sub 26.5 minutes
- 5 miler: sun 45 minutes
- 10K: sub 1 hour
- 15K: sub 1 1/2 hour
- Half-marathon: sub 2 hours
- Marathon: sub 4 1/2 hours
- Add 1 state onto my list of states I have run in (current states: PA, NJ, FL)
- Try running groups (while I like solo running creating a network of runners in my area does sound like a good plan).
- Prepare for Dopey 2020!!!!!!!!

That's enough from me for now. In my next update (should be tomorrow), I'll list my weekly training schedule, what races I already know I'll be doing this year, the races I am looking at doing, and also my current PRs.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to doing this for the year(s) to come!

 

[SheHulk]

Looks good! I'm from PA near Philly too! You hear a lot of stories of running helping people cope with addictions of all kinds. I'm following and wish you well.

 

[KevM]

Day 2 of my training journal. Picking up from where I left off yesterday, today is going to cover what my current weekly training schedule looks like, what races I know I;m running this year, what other races I'm looking at running this year and also my current PRs.

Weekly Training Schedule:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 5-6 mile run and light strength training.
Wednesday: I had been doing short runs, generally no more than 3 miles, but I am going to be switching over to actually doing intervals.
Thursday: 5-6 mile run.
Friday: Heavy strength training with a trainer.
Saturday: My long run, yoga, and right now while training for the indoor tri, stationary bike and swimming laps.
Sunday: 5-6 mile run, yoga, light strength training.

Races I am already signed up for or will once registration opens:

1/1/19: Run with Jack 5K - Completed. PR - 27:56
1/27/19: Indoor Tri
2/10/19: Feel the Love 5K
2/23/19: Fireside Frostbite 5 Miler
3/16/19: Conshy Classic 5K
3/23/19: Phillies 5K
3/31/19: Love Run Half-Marathon
4/6/19: Philadelphia Hot Chocolate 15K
4/20/19: Philly Rabbit Run 5K
4/27/19: Sandy Sprint 10K
4/28/19: Valley Forge Revolutionary 5 Miler
5/5/19: Broad Street Run
5/18/19: Eagles 5K
6/2/19: Philly Run Fest Half-Marathon
6/?/19: Midsummer Night Run 5K #1
7/?/19: Midsummer Night Run 5K #2
7/13/19: Blacklight Run 5K
8/?/19: Midsummer Night Run 5K
9/29/19: OCNJ Half-Marathon
11/23/19: Philadelphia Half-Marathon
11/23/19: Rothman Orthopedics 8K
11/24/19: Philadelphia Marathon

Races I am looking at:

5/19/19: French Creek Triathlon
7/27/19 or 7/28/19: Conquer the Canyon Half-Marathon or Marathon
9/15/19: Rock 'N" Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon
10/20/19: Runner's World Half-Marathon
11/9/19: Rocky Run 13.1 Italian Stallion Challenge
12/8/19: The Loop Race

I feel like there are some other races that I was looking at, but t the moment no others come to mind. I do see that to hit my goal of adding another state on to my states ran i list, I will need to find at least one more race to run. Most likely in Delaware.

Current PRs

5K - 27:56 (1/1/19)
5 Miler - 45:39
10K - 1:04:15
Half-Marathon - 2:09:32
Marathon - 5:57:32

Going forward, I am still thinking about how often I should do updates. I am thinking I will do a weekly update of my training on Sundays. Then I will also do race recaps and post if/when anything interesting occurs while training. Trying to think when else I might post. I'll probably look through the journals of others to see if anything jumps out to me. Thanks for reading along.

 

[KevM]

Looks good! I'm from PA near Philly too! You hear a lot of stories of running helping people cope with addictions of all kinds. I'm following and wish you well.

Thanks! As for running helping with addictions; for myself I would certainly say that is true. I also jsut came across Rich Rolls podcast, which I am interested in diving into.

 

[Kazrak]

26 races! Wow. That's seriously impressive.

Following along for inspiration and support.

 

[Jules76126]

Following along. Congrats on your achievements so far. I have family members who have struggled with alcoholism and I am excited to see where you go in 2019.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

Excelsior!

 

[michigandergirl]

Following!

I recently started a journal too and so far I think it definitely helps with motivation.

 

[disneygpa]

Congrats on your sobriety! Looking forward to following along and watching your success.

 

[KevM]

Training Journal Week 1/21/19-1/27/19 Recap:

Monday: Mondays are my off day. I do active rest though by walking at lunch time in order to make sure I can get 10,000 steps/day.

Tuesday: Ran 6.20 miles at lunch (10’39” pace). Then that night did some strength training.
- kB swing @ 24kg for 3 sets of 10
- Keg toss ball @ 30# for 3 sets 10
- Thrusters @ 20# for 3 sets of 10

Wednesday: I didn’t sleep well Tuesday night. So was not really feeling it Wednesday. Only did 1.50 miles that evening (9’59” pace).

Thursday: This was my second week running with a local running group in the evening. I ran 6.55 miles (9’26” pace).

Friday: I meet with my trainer on Friday afternoons for strength training.
- Rower: 500 meters @ 1st red dot 1:50min (82 rows)
- Bench press @ 75# for 3 sets of 12 & @ 85# for 1 set of 85
- Up right rows @ 25# dumbbells for 4 sets of 10
- Farmers carry @ 28kg kB
- SkiERG 90 seconds on mon off 4x
- Jump rope: 20 sec fast, 20 sec slow for 2 mins.

Also on Friday I did a run through of the Indoor Tri I would be doing Sunday. For that I did:
Swim: 76 meters
Bike: 7.2 miles
Run: 2.04 (9’38” pace)

Saturday: Ran 6.20 miles (9’40” pace).

Sunday: Indoor Tri (10 min swim; 30 min bike; 20 min run)
- Swim: 91.44
- Bike: 6.1
- Run 2.17 miles (9’20” pace)

Then later I did strength training:
- Warm Up Run: 1.13 miles (11’25” pace)
- Rower: 500 meters @ 1st red dot 1:56 min (86 rows)
- Walking Lunge 10 up & back @ 2 25# dumbbells 3 sets
- Romanian Deadlift 15x @ 25# dumbbells 3 sets
- Wall Sit 3 sets; 1st 60sec, 2nd 75sec, 3rd 90sec
Mountain Climbers 10 left & 10 right 3 sets
- Assault bike to 20cal 3 set
- Ball slam 15x @ 30# 3 set


Weekly Running Miles: 25.79
Weekly Bikinh Miles: 13.3
Weekly Swimming Meters: 167.44

Monthly Running Miles: 108.10
Monthly Biking Miles:30.78
Monthly Swimming Meters: 243.84

Yearly Running Miles: 108.10
Yearly Bikinh Miles: 30.78
Yearly Swimminh Meters: 243.84


Tomorrow I’ll give a little write up on how the Indoor Tri went and how I liked it.

 

[KevM]

Ok, going to give a little recap on my Indoor Triathlon. I haven’t really given many race recaps, so still getting into the practice of writing them.

Indoor Triatholn 1/27/19

The format for this Indoor Tri was a 10 minute swim, 10 min transition, 30 minutes on the bike, 5 minute transition, and a 20 minute run on the treadmill. The way the scoring worked, the person with the most lengths/miles got the most points (in this case 92, soon was that’s how many participants there were) and the person with the least amount got 1 point. I finished 83rd out of 92 overall and 13th out of 13 in my division. My actually results:

Swim: 12 lengths
Bike: 6.1 miles
Run: 2.1 miles

Considering I only started swimming and biking about 3 weeks ago when I decided to sign up for this Indoor Tri I am perfectly content with the results.

Some observations:

All participants in the swim had to wear a swim cap. I have never wore one before and around the 7 minute mark I started getting a headache. So I’m not sure if it was just from never wearing one before or if I was wearing it wrong.

The music in the spin/soul/whatever the gym calls their bike studio was loud. I get it was to help keep up the hype/motivation but yikes.

By the time it was time for the treadmill my legs were dead tired but when it was all over and done with I felt great.

I also have to say it was put together and ran nicely.

The gym is having a second Indoor Triathlon on 4/7 and I am planning to sign up for that. Between them a fun now I am going to look into some adult swim classes though, because Inahdn’t swim since I was a kid and can really use some tutoring.

Ther’s also a Sprint Triathlon near me in May that I am now thinking about. The only hold for me with that is that I don’t own a bike, so I’ll need to do some research to see what I’d need to get.

 

[Sinders99]

WOW!! What a powerful story. To admit you have a problem, no matter the disease or illness, is the first step to recovery and I love that you celebrate your annual sobriety milestone with a healthy celebration. Your schedule of races is impressive and I'm really looking forward to following along and seeing your 2019 unfold.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Ok, going to give a little recap on my Indoor Triathlon. I haven’t really given many race recaps, so still getting into the practice of writing them.

Indoor Triatholn 1/27/19

The format for this Indoor Tri was a 10 minute swim, 10 min transition, 30 minutes on the bike, 5 minute transition, and a 20 minute run on the treadmill. The way the scoring worked, the person with the most lengths/miles got the most points (in this case 92, soon was that’s how many participants there were) and the person with the least amount got 1 point. I finished 83rd out of 92 overall and 13th out of 13 in my division. My actually results:

Swim: 12 lengths
Bike: 6.1 miles
Run: 2.1 miles

Considering I only started swimming and biking about 3 weeks ago when I decided to sign up for this Indoor Tri I am perfectly content with the results.

Some observations:

All participants in the swim had to wear a swim cap. I have never wore one before and around the 7 minute mark I started getting a headache. So I’m not sure if it was just from never wearing one before or if I was wearing it wrong.

The music in the spin/soul/whatever the gym calls their bike studio was loud. I get it was to help keep up the hype/motivation but yikes.

By the time it was time for the treadmill my legs were dead tired but when it was all over and done with I felt great.

I also have to say it was put together and ran nicely.

The gym is having a second Indoor Triathlon on 4/7 and I am planning to sign up for that. Between them a fun now I am going to look into some adult swim classes though, because Inahdn’t swim since I was a kid and can really use some tutoring.

Ther’s also a Sprint Triathlon near me in May that I am now thinking about. The only hold for me with that is that I don’t own a bike, so I’ll need to do some research to see what I’d need to get.

Congrats on the tri! That's a really interesting setup. That's definitely something I could see myself doing since I'm risk-adverse to biking outside. Did you find it fun?

 

[KevM]

Congrats on the tri! That's a really interesting setup. That's definitely something I could see myself doing since I'm risk-adverse to biking outside. Did you find it fun?

Thanks! Yeah, I did find it fun. I thought the 30 mins on the bike would feel like forever, but it went by quick with the music pumping and the two people in charge of that section were extremely engaging.

 

[KevM]

Decided to do a small wrap up at the end of each month on miles/meters for the month and if I am on target for my mileage goal for 2019.

Monthly Running Miles: 125.10/1,500 miles goal for 2019 (8.34% done, on target)
Monthly Biking Miles:30.78/NA
Monthly Swimming Meters: 243.84/NA

 

[KevM]

I mean to have these weekly Training Journals dome on Sundays, but the Super Bowl Three me off this week.

Training Journal Week 1/28/19-2/3/19 Recap:

Monday: Active rest. Walked ~1hr at lunch.

Tuesday: Ran 6.20 miles at lunch (9’47” pace).

Wednesday: Ran 3.10 miles (10’06 pace) at lunch. Then switched my Tuesday strength training this week to Wednesday, which will probably become my new normal day for that.

Thursday: It was to cold for me to run outside, so ran on the treadmill. I ran 6.66 miles (9’56” pace).

Friday: I met with my trainer for heavy strength training. Also did 1 Mile (11’16” pace) warm up run & 1 Mile (11’24” pace) cool down run.

Saturday: Saturday morning was still a bit to cold for my liking, so ran on the treadmill. I ran 7.50 miles (9’51”pace). The one nice thing about running in the treadmill Saturday mornings is that I’m able to catch EPL games.

I didn’t get to bike or swim this week. That’s because a yoga studio by me was having a Yoga for Athletes 2 hr class during my normal biking/swimming time. I’m glad I went to that class though. I got some helpful tips. They also had drawings for some prizes and I won a free month of coaching from a local run coach.

Sunday: The morning was nice somI ran outside. Ran for 6.25 miles (10’04” pace).

Then in the early afternoon I got to the gym for some strength training.


Weekly Running Miles: 32.71
Weekly Bikinh Miles: 0
Weekly Swimming Meters: 0

Monthly Running Miles: 15.75
Monthly Biking Miles: 0
Monthly Swimming Meters: 0

Yearly Running Miles: 140.81
Yearly Bikinh Miles: 30.78
Yearly Swimminh Meters: 243.84

 

[Baloo in MI]

Thank you for the courage to put ourself out like that! Going to follow along.

 

[KevM]

Well I was gone for most of February and that was because it was the month of sickness. First a bad cold, followed by the flu, and the. Another bad cold. It felt like I didn’t have two days in a row of being healthy. Even when I was healthy, I was so drained of energy I wasn’t up for much running/exercising. All a long winded way of saying, February was not a productive month. February is now over though and it’s onto a healthier March!

Although there was a highlight or two in February. I did run a 5 miler last Saturday. Only the second time I’ve done a race of that distance, so I easily PR’ed it with a time of 47’10”.

Another highlight of the month is that I’ve started taking swim lessons. While I know how to swim I was never a competitive swimmer and hadn’t swam laps for years until this January when I did the Indoor Tri. Well, I’ve signed up for another Indoor Tri in April and am thinking of doing a Sprint Triathlon in May. So I decided swim lessons would be a good way to work on my swimming.

I also took my first spin class the other night. I liked it a lot. Now it’s just a question of if that is something I can find a way to fit into my schedule.

Now for my February totals:

Run: 35.52 miles (160.62/1,500 for the year. 10.71% to my goal. Going need to up my average monthly totals or have a massive month or two to catch back up.)
Bike: 25.69
Swim: Not sure. With the different training I am doing during my lessons I lose count of my distance.

Onto a healthier March!

 

[KevM]

Well, it’s been a good while since I last updated this. That’s not due to being inactive though. In the 9(!) weeks since I last updated I’ve done 9 races, bringing my total for the year to 12. Included in those races are new PRs in the 5K, 5 miler, 10K, & Half-Marathon, as well as my first time racing both a 15K & a 10 miler.

Current PRs
5K - 25:13 (4/27/19)
5 Miler - 45:40 (4/25/19)
10K - 53:13 (4/27/19)
15K - 1:22:27 (4/6/19)
10 Miler - 1:28:40 (5/5/19)
Half-Marathon - 2:00:38 (3/31/19)
Marathon - 5:57:32 (11/18/18)

I also did my own mini version of a Dopey challenge when I did 3 races in 3 days (a 5 miler on a Thursday night, then a 10K early on a Saturday followed by a late morning 5K). It was supposed to be 4 in 4 days but when I showed up to the 4th race on Sunday morning I discovered I had never actually registered for it. Still not sure how I managed that ‍.

I’m still sticking with my workout schedule which is:

Monday active rest (walling to get my 10,000 steps)
Tuesday running (usually with a run club).
Wednesday running & strength training
Thursday running (usually with a run club).
Friday strength training
Saturday running (& yoga when I can fit it in).
Sunday running (usually with a run club), strength training, & yoga of if I can fit it in.

Here’s to actually doing a better job of keeping this up going forward!

 

[AntimonyER]

Congrats on all the new PRs!