Not that kind of streaking, pervert!

No, January was my first attempt at a solid running streak. At the end of last year, I half heartedly committed to running every day in 2013. In my mind, I thought “well I’ll just run when I can and if I can do a few weeks that would be awesome.” And here we are finished with January and moving into February and I have run every day in 2013, so far. While I had originally planned on have lots of low mileage runs to replace my “rest” days, I ended up having pretty high mileage. The first weeks added up to the high 40s each and the last two weeks were both in the high 50s. I ended January having run 241 miles! That is a record for me by over 50 miles! What!?!

So why all the miles? Why so much? Well, I have my eyes on what will be my third marathon: the Honda LA Marathon. Anyone who knows me, knows I am not exactly a fan of LA… so why would I choose to run 26.2 miles through its city limits? Well, I am still looking for the Boston Qualifying time and its a relatively flat course, plus its part of the LA/SF Challenge. And since I’m an ambassador, who am I to pass up such a great challenge? And that medal? Yes I want one! Plus I have many fellow ambassadors who are also taking on LA and so we will be supporting each other, even if not actually running next to each other.

Along with all this running, I have added some cross training to my routine. I haven’t been back on my bike yet… it’s been cold and now I’m nervous about the clips all over again. But I will be soon. I recently became a 24 Hour Fitness member (again) and have jumped into spin classes to help me get ready to take my bike back out on the road. Additionally, I also finally got a trainer for my bike so I can “ride” it inside. I’ve only tried it out once, but I’m excited to add it to my routine (especially when I’m watching my favorite soap, don’t judge). Finally, I started going to Body Pump classes at 24 Hour. What’s Body Pump you ask? Well according to their website, a typical class will:

• Improve your strength
• Perform 70-100 repetitions per body part totaling up to 800 repetitions in a single workout
• Improve your general fitness
• Shape and tone your muscles
• Protect your bones and joints from injury
• Get into shape fast
• Feel confident

And there’s music! And my friend and fellow SCE runner, Leslie, teaches it. She’s kind of an amazing instructor. Anyway, it’s definitely toning me up and I’m adding strength. I’m hoping all this will help me be more fit overall but also have less chance of injury in my running. 

And this is paying off. Yesterday, I nailed a new PR in the 10k distance in a local race (look for a recap soon). You can also read about my training at the SFM blog.