Running - Weekly Log for November 2, 2020 through November 8, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 45 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 34.7 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 1,092.7 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 45 miles
Current Weigh-In: 180

I ended up missing more days that I would have liked this week, so I think that to avoid this in the future, I'm going to be adding a short morning run to me routine. I don't really have enough time before work to do a full run the way I would like to, but I can put in a short run every day before I need to settle down and put in my workday. That way, on the days when I won't be able to do a full run in the evenings due to scheduling issues, I'll still get a couple of miles in to kick off the day. I've started experimenting with this, and I am cautiously optimistic that this will have some further benefits, as the day I tried this, I felt better the rest of the day as well. The upcoming week is the real test, so we'll see how this goes.

Previous Weekly Running Log: October 26, 2020 through November 1, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for October 26, 2020 through November 1, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 45 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 36.4 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 1,058 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 45 miles
Current Weigh-In: 180

I missed three days of running this week. The first, Thursday, looks like it is going to be unavoidable going forward due to scheduling issues. I'm just going to have to factor that in as my weekly rest day going foward. The other twu - Saturday and Sunday - were because I was recovering from a nearly fifteen mile run on Friday. I like the really long runs, and to get to where I would like to be, I'm going to have to figure out how to incorporate them without putting me off the roads tfor two days afterwards.

Previous Weekly Running Log: October 19, 2020 through October 25, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: November 2, 2020 through November 8, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for October 19, 2020 through October 25, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 45 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 36.3 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 1,021.6 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 45 miles
Current Weigh-In: 180

I was able to run seven miles every weekday this week, but I wasn't able to get any running done over the weekend, so I missed my weekly mileage goal again. Even so, I was able to run 36 miles this week, which has me feeling pretty good about my conditioning. on the downside, one of the reasons I didn't run over the weekend was that my right heel was bothering me again, so I'm hoping that doesn't run into an issue that hampers my running again.

In a fit of optimism, I'm going to aim for 45 miles again this week. Also, since we are getting close to the end of the month, I'll be aiming for my monthly goals as well. The largest goal I set for this month was to run 300 kilometers this month - an average of just under ten kilometers per day. I'm pretty much on track for that, so with any luck I should get there in the next week.

Previous Weekly Running Log: October 12, 2020 through October 18, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: October 26, 2020 through November 1, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for October 12, 2020 through October 18, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 45 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 35.5 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 985.3 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 45 miles
Current Weigh-In: 180

I should have known going into this week that my running schedule was going to be disrupted. I took the week off from work because the Redhead had her midterm exam this week, and that allowed me to spend the week taking care of the Littlest Starship Captain. That also meant that the day before the exam I wasn't able to go running at all because I needed to stay home all day so that the Redhead could study. Then, over the weekend, we helped run a virtual convention, and once again, I wasn't able to get away to run on either Saturday or Sunday. On the other hand, that means that I was able to run 35 miles in only four days of running for the week, so there is that at least.

Going forward I am hoping to have an uneventful but productive week. There appears to be no reason for me to miss any running days this week and I've gotten to where my weekday run is a seven mile route, so I am aiming at 45 miles as my weekly goal again. I should top 1,000 miles tracked this week, so that's kind of exciting. We'll see how this goes.

Previous Weekly Running Log: October 5, 2020 through October 11, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: October 19, 2020 through October 25, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for October 5, 2020 through October 11, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 43.6 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 949.8 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 45 miles
Current Weigh-In: 180

I was on pace for a 50+ mile week this week, but a muscle strain today made me decide to take Sunday off, which left me at only 43.6 miles for the week. That's still higher than my mileage goal of 40 miles for the week, so I suppose it is wrong for me to be a little disappointed at not hitting 50 miles. In any event, I've had two good running weeks in a row, so I am going to up my mileage goal to 45 miles for this week. I am still ridicuklously slow, but at least I can put in more miles now. With any luck, as I get in better shape from the extended mileage, I will get faster again.

Previous Weekly Running Log: September 28, 2020 through October 4, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: October 12, 2020 through October 18, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for September 28, 2020 through October 4, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 49 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 906.2 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Current Weigh-In: 180

This week has been a good week for me. I was able to run six out of the seven days this week and turned in the longest run I have doen in months with a fourteen mile jaunt on Friday. On Sunday, I got better news when I noticed that the new scale I had recently acquired needed to be properly calibrated, and when I had done so I discovered that I weigh significantly less than I had thought. I don't know if I will be able to replicate this week of mileage next week, since I don't have this Friday off to allow me to take a long run this week. I think aiming for another forty mile week is a doable goal though.

Previous Weekly Running Log: September 21, 2020 through September 27, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: October 5, 2020 through October 11, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for September 21, 2020 through September 27, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 25.6 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 857.2 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Current Weigh-In: 198

I was sick this week and missed three days of running. On the other hand, I got my new running watch and my running routes are now apparently more accurate. My phone's GPS appears to have been just inaccruate enough to short my running routes by just enough the be annoying. I ended up having to throw a bit of extra distance on all of my regular routes in order to keep up with my plan of running at least a 10K every regular running day. I am feeling better and I am hoping to be able to push things further this week to get back to running 40 miles per week.

Previous Weekly Running Log: September 14, 2020 through September 20, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: September 28, 2020 through October 4, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for September 14, 2020 through September 20, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 37.3 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 5 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 831.6 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Current Weigh-In: 192

I'm not sure if this week's results are reliable, as I had some trouble with the GPS on my cell phone. I figured it out, but ended up ordering a new running watch to head off any future porblems, which should show up in a few days. I missed two days of running this week, only one of which was planned. The other day I missed was because I felt a bit under the weather.

Previous Weekly Running Log: September 7, 2020 through September 13, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: September 21, 2020 through September 27, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for September 7, 2020 through September 13, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 33.8 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 5 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 794.3 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done (scale not usable)

In good news for this week, I completed the "Run the L" virtual challenge, and have now logged enough miles to have run the entire length of the Chicago L-train system. I'll be looking to sign up for another virtual running challenge in the upcoming week.

In bad news for this week, I got a little bit sick on Saturday and Sunday, and didn't run either of those days. I blame the fact that I got caught out in the rain while running on Wednesday and was soaked to the bone for most of the run. I'm going to be cautious about my mileage goal for the upcoming week and hope to get back out on the roads soon.

In neutral news, I am switching my "running week" from Sunday to Saturday to Monday through Sunday. This will allows my "running week" to coincide with the tracking system used for weekly miles by Strava. This is mostly for my convenience, because this means I won't have to calculate my weekly mileage tallies by hand any more.

Previous Weekly Running Log: August 30, 2020 through September 5, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: September 14, 2020 through September 20, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for August 30, 2020 through September 5, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 46.2 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 7 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 760.5 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done (scale not usable)

So this week obviously went fairly well. I was able to take advantage of being off on Friday to do an extra long run, which I think I will plan on doing from now on. I am almost finished with the "Run the L" virtual challenge, and shouls wrap that up this week. I have signed up for some Strava-based challenges, two of which I have already completed (the 5K challenge and the 10K challenge), two of which I am about 30% through (the distance challenge to run at least 200K in September, and the climbing challenge to climb at least 2,000 meters in September). I'll probably look for some other virtual challenges to sign up for once I've finished the "Run the L" challenge. I saw one the other day that was a "Run Hadrian's Wall" virtual challenge, so may try to find that again.

For next week, I'm going to stay at 40 miles for my goal. After that, I'll see how I feel for the next week.

Previous Weekly Running Log: August 23, 2020 through August 29, 2020
Previous Weekly Running Log: September 7, 2020 through September 13, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for August 23, 2020 through August 29, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 35 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 36.5 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 7 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 714.3 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 40 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done (scale not usable)

I hit my mileage goal for the week again, so I am going to up the goal for this week. I will note that I reached the goal despite having to take a day off unexpectedly as we got some pretty heavy rains on Friday - the last vestiges of the recent hurricane working its way up the coast. I'm feeling pretty good most days on my runs - the last day of the week I pushed up to an 8 mile weekend run, which gets me back to where I was for weekend runs before my late-spring layoff. I'm about a week away from getting back to where I want to be as a baseline. If all goes well, the week after this one will get me back to where I want to be.

A fiends of mine asked me this week if I was training for something specific. The short answer is no, I am not. One reason is that pretty much every race in 2020 has either been cancelled, postponed indefinitely, or made into a virtual event. I have looked at a couple of races that theoretically might happen in 2021, but thus far the organizers appear not to have decided whether they are going to hold their events or not next year. The other reason is that I have never been a runner who really spends much time racing. In the past, I have gone years without racing. I just don't need the carrot of a race to keep going out and running every day, so I don't bother a lot of the time. I'll probably run a race or two in 2021, but right now I don't have any particular plans for any.

Previous Weekly Running Log: August 16, 2020 through August 22, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: August 30, 2020 through September 5, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for August 16, 2020 through August 22, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 30 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 35.8 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 677.8 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 35 miles
Current Weigh-In: 195.8

This week marks my entry into the 21st century, as I downloaded Strava onto an old cell phone we keep around for emergencies and started using it combined with the phone's GPS to track my mileage. It turns out that the running routes that I thought were 4 miles long and 5 miles long are actually 4.5 miles long and 5.5 miles long, so I've been running further than I thought. It also turns out that I;ve been running a bit faster than I thought - about a minute a mile faster. This seems to me to be good news, and it means that I don't have quite as much between my current status and my long-term running goals. It does, however, mean that I will not be able to deceive myself about my progress towards those goals.

In any event, I'm upping my mileage goal for the week, pushing to run the 5.5 mile route every weekday and running a new 6.3 mile route I've put together on the weekends. I'm basically going to keep pushing up the mileage for the next few weeks and then hold there for a bit before I decide how much more my body can handle and make an assessment from there.

Previous Weekly Running Log: August 9, 2020 through August 15, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: August 23, 2020 through August 29, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for August 9, 2020 through August 15, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 25 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 29 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 642 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 30 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done

Last week went well. I alternated three mile days with five mile days, and put in all the miles I wanted to for the week and then some. This week I'm going to bump up to alternating four mile days and five mile days and aim for slightly more total weekly mileage. I am tempted to try to push to my final "baseline" goal for weekly mileage, but patience is a key component of distance running, so I will hold off on that and continue to ease myself towards my hoped-for weekly mileage goals. I should get there later this month, but we'll see how that goes.

In other news, I've signed up for the Hoka One One "Run the L" virtual event, which consists of running the total distance covered by Chicago's "L-train" network, or 131 miles. The even runs until October 4, so I have until then to complete the total distance. I figured that since I was going to be aiming for 30+ miles per week over that time span anyway, I may as well get a medal out of it.

Previous Weekly Running Log: August 2, 2020 through August 8, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: August 16, 2020 through August 22, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for August 2, 2020 through August 8, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 20 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 21 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 613 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 25 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done

This week went very well. I alternated five mile runs with two mile runs and was able to stay on track for the whole week. I made my weekly mileage goal even though I had to miss one day of running due to some meetings I had to attend that extended pretty much all of one evening. I'm going to push up the mileage of my "short" runs for this week and aim for a twenty-five mile goal for the week. I still have trouble sleeping, because there really is no good sleeping position when you have a shoulder injury, but at least the shoulder has not been bothering me when I run - except for rare times when I stumble over something like a branch I didn't see on a dark running path or otherwise reflexively move my arm quickly.

One of the problems with dealing with my shoulder issues is that I pretty much know the pain doesn't signal anything real. Normally, pain is a signal from your body that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. You've broken something or opened a wound or something like that, and continuing to do what you are doing will result in more damage. Since my shoulder issues are basically arthritis, the pain is just pain with no underlying cause that can be fixed, and continuing to do what causes the pain won't result in any additional damage. The pain is just annoying and serves no useful purpose, and that is really quite frustrating.

Previous Weekly Running Log: July 26, 2020 through August 1, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: August 9, 2020 through August 15, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for July 26, 2020 through August 1, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 15 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 22 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 592 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 20 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done

So, this week I tried a new running pattern. I usually try running more or less the same distance most days, with maybe more distance on weekend days and one day of rest - basically one day a week of no running. This hasn't been working very well for my body in the last couple of months. Instead, this past week I alternated two mile days with four mile days, which seems to have worked out fairly well.

My goal is to up my weekly mileage over the next month or so, and this week I intend to alternate two mile days with five mile days. If this goes well, the week after I'll up the "short" mileage days and keep the "long" mileage days where they are, working my way up to consistently running more mileage per week. I am optimistic that this will help me get back to running longer weeks consistently.

Previous Weekly Running Log: July 19, 2020 through July 25, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: August 2, 2020 through August 8, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for July 19, 2020 through July 25, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 10 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 10 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 570 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 15 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done

So, this was a pretty good week. I set a goal of running ten miles for the week, and I did run ten miles for the week. More importantly, I ran consistently, actually running multiple days in a row. I ran more consistently this week than I have in a month or so, and that makes me think I have perhaps turned the corner and will be able to get back to a regular running schedule. In a fit of optimism, I am going to set a goal of 15 miles of running for the upcoming week, and hope that I can build on this week's success.

Previous Weekly Running Log: July 12, 2020 through July 18, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: July 26, 2020 through August 1, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for July 12, 2020 through July 18, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 10 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 2.5 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 560 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 10 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done

I feel pretty good about this week even though I ended up only running two and a half miles. I went out with the redhead and the Littlest Starship Captain most of the days of the week, and the couple of runs that I did manage to put in felt pretty good. My shoulder will never be the same, but I can at least get out on the road and run without it preoccupying me while I am doing so. In terms of mileage covered, this week was obviously not good, but in terms of mental state, I think I am finally pulling out of the doldrums that I have been stuck in for the last several weeks.

Previous Weekly Running Log: July 5, 2020 through July 11, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: July 19, 2020 through July 25, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for July 5, 2020 through July 11, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 10 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 0 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 557.5 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 10 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done

This was another wasted week for me. I didn't manage to run at all. On the other hand, I was able to get out and walk with the Redhead and the Littlest Starship Captain pretty much every day, so I wasn't completely inactive. Walking a mile and a half or so every day won't get me to where I'd like to be, so I have to figure out how to run while having what amounts to perpetual shoulder pain.

I've run through minor injuries before, always figuring that by doing so I would keep myself in shape for when the injury healed and I recovered. The pain was worth it, I rationalized, because once I got to the other side of the injury, I'd be better off than if I had simply stopped running on a regular basis. The difference now is that I don't think there will ever be an "other side". My shoulders will always hurt from now on. And it is kind of difficult to deal with that fact and come up with a running plan that accounts for it. My plan right now is to bull through and just hope for the best. We'll see how this goes.

Previous Weekly Running Log: June 28, 2020 through July 4, 2020
Previous Weekly Running Log: July 12, 2020 through July 18, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for June 28, 2020 through July 4, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 10 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 4 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 557.5 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 10 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done

It has become really easy to derail my running. So easy, in fact, that I end up not running most days. The root problem is my shoulder issues. Although my shoulder doesn't actually directly impact my running, it has made it difficult to sleep well, and as a result, I am a lot more tired than I used to be. It also saps away my ability to concentrate, as I am constantly aware of the soreness in my shoulder, which flares up intensely when I engage in certain motions - and I am still discovering just what motions cause the flare ups.

The redhead has also decided that we should take walks every evening with the Littlest Starship Captain. I'm not complaining about these walks, but by the time we get home from them, they stack onto the previously mentioned issues and I am simply so worn out that I don't have the energy or mental fortitude to go out again and run. I'm not saying that I won't be able to start regularly running again, but I think that before I get there, I need to figure out a way to be able to sleep through the night.

Previous Weekly Running Log: June 21, 2020 through June 27, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: July 5, 2020 through July 11, 2020

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Running - Weekly Log for June 21, 2020 through June 27, 2020

Last Week's Mileage Goal: 20 miles
Actual Miles Last Week: 5 miles
Run/Walk Miles: 0 miles
Cumulative Mileage: 553.5 miles.
This Week's Mileage Goal: 10 miles
Current Weigh-In: Not done

Well, this is getting depressing. At the beginning of this year, I was recovering from a dog bite and then getting myself back into shape. I was pushing my weekly mileage on a regular basis, and was gearing up to run a couple of half-marathons and marathons this year. That's all gone now. The races have been canceled and now I struggle to even put in miles on the road. I was describing how my shoulders feel to someone and the best way I could come convey the feeling was to say that it feels like I moved a van load of furniture yesterday. And I feel like that every day. And I'm coming around to the fact that I am likely to feel like that every day from now on.

Needless to say, this has sapped my energy for running. By the end of the day, after spending my time working through having shoulders that just don't work right any more, I don't have the motivation to run. I keep setting running goals for the week, and then letting the days slip by without running. I've got to break this cycle of malaise, but I'm not sure how.

Previous Weekly Running Log: June 14, 2020 through June 20, 2020
Subsequent Weekly Running Log: June 28, 2020 through July 4, 2020

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