January Review and February Plans

I remember when my kids were very young, my mother-in-law told me that the years when your children are small seems like the longest time in your life, but once they hit school age that it all goes by in a blur.  I can attest that life seems mighty blurry these days.  Sort of like that adage, “The days are long but the years are short.”  All this to say, wow, I can’t believe January is over and it’s already February!

Yes.  Like this.

Let’s take a look at my running in January by the numbers:

Miles Planned:  ??  I’m not really on a plan right now, but my general goal for the month was “somewhere north of 100 miles.”
Miles Completed:  147.  So, yay!

Long Runs Completed:  4
Longest Long Run:  16 miles, which was maybe not my best run ever, but I still got ‘er done.

Races:  0.  This was a good thing because I needed the time to do same base-building, but I felt like such a racing slug!  I wanted to be standing at a starting line!

Unintentional Run Streaks:  2
Rest Days:  3, which was definitely not enough!  This month brought some scheduling issues with the addition of a new running client.  Not a complaint!  But something I need to work on, since I ended up running 12 days and 13 days in a row during January.  I suspect it would behoove me to do some actual planning so that I can do more mileage on client running days and take more days off.

Cross-Training/Strength Training Days:  13

Overall:  January was a really good building month, peppered with some challenges that I plan to tackle in February.  I’m happy that my numbers are coming back up, but I’m also feeling a little tired, which means that I need to proceed with caution.  Not exactly easy for me!

On tap for February:

• Run a kickass half marathon.  Okay, “kickass” is a total overstatement for my current fitness, but I’d like to run a nice steady race.
• Decide whether it’s prudent to keep building for a 50K in March, or if I should do a little schedule shuffle and run an ultra later in the year.
• Get control of my current breathing issues.  I know it’s a replay of last year’s allergies/asthma, so I’d like to stay on top of it, rather than get stuck behind it and lose more training time.
• The start of my kids’ Track season!  So excited to see what they’re going to bust out this year.
• Aim for mileage in the triple digits.
• Have fun, stay fit, and love life.  Which is pretty much my goal every single day.

How did your January shake down?  And what plans do you have for February??