Hey! How’s it going? 2021 has been quite the year already! I feel like it’s only about two weeks in, and I’ve accomplished quite a bit! I wish I had gotten more done, but time and energy will always be in limited supply.
Since I’ll have a blog post up tomorrow covering my goals for 2021, I’ll do a quick rundown here before I get into how my training has gone. For 2021, I’m doing a virtual team run across Mexico, so we each need to run a little over 900 miles. I set my goal for 1,000. I’m determined to hit 1,000 finally.
Consistency is my word of the year because to hit 1,000; I need to be consistent. I also want to do strength training and yoga more consistently. Not a few months, and then skip it for a few weeks and then try again.
Now, my A goal is to complete the Yeti Challenge in March. Yup, 5 miles every 4 hours for 24 hours. I’ve started researching and planning already. I’m not 100% sure how I’m going to train for this yet. I’m thinking of building long runs up, and lots of back to back type runs. Like Friday after work, Saturday morning long run, and Sunday morning run. If you have any tips or ways to train, please let me know! Leave me a voice message on anchor.fm/runsonespresso or send an email to jenna@runsonespresso. I would greatly appreciate it!
Now you know what I’m training for, we can talk about how the past few weeks have gone.
I was attempting to get 10,000 feet of vert from December 1st to 25th. I ended at about 8800. It was a struggle. I learned I’m not a massive fan of vert just for vert.
I finished the Festivus 100 miles on 12/27 and then immediately went into Across the Globe. I set a goal of 50 miles in the ten days, and I ended at 39.07 miles in nine runs and seven days. I tried, but siht happens. Would I have loved to hit those 50 miles (or even just 40)? Yup, of course. But I’m not beating myself up for not reaching the goal. I tried. I put in the effort, but it just wasn’t in the cards for that time.
Let’s take a quick sponsor break.
Welcome back!
So we are, at the time of this recording, nine days into January. I’ve run 45 miles and lifted weights three times. I haven’t done yoga, BUT I have been stretching daily, which is kind of similar. I know yoga gives me more than just stretching, but I haven’t been feeling setting up a video and getting into it.
I’ve been doing Bodyweight Beast from Jessie’s Fitness. You look at the day’s workout and think, oh, this won’t be bad. It’s bad. Trust me. It’s freaking HARD. It definitely pushes me. I wanted a change from the previous program I was doing. I did it like three times in a row and wanted to switch it up. Not having to drag out weights, bench, and bands is nice.
I’m doing strength work on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. It works well with my schedule and running.
So funny story… last week, before I restarted strength training, I decided to try and bust out a few assisted pull-ups after my run. To test how much strength I lost in the past month or so, I hadn’t done much. I get out the pull-up bar and put it in the door frame.
I set up my wooden plyo box so I can step up and reach the bar. I get set up and start doing pull-ups. I look to my left and see the pull-up bar is beginning to come away from the door frame.
BOOM.
I fell flat on my ass. It was more of a shock, and I do an inventory to check myself. Ass is a little sore on the right side, as is the right wrist since I caught myself with it. I get up and look at the pull-up bar and realize the little metal clip that held it to the door frame had straightened entirely out. I guess after a few years, it was tired of supporting my weight.
I pull out the metal clip and take my band off of the pull-up bar so I can put them in the garbage. I grab the wooden plyo box and put it away. Then I start to realize it feels like my left ankle is wet. I look down and…
I’m bleeding.
Apparently, my left shin/ankle area was taken out by the wooden plyo box when I came down. I cleaned it up and was able to stop the bleeding and put Neosporin on it. I still have quite the bruise there! The scab is healing because it’s been so itchy the last few days.
When it happened, I had a moment of shock, but later that day, I realized how funny it was. If I had been recording, it probably would make one of those bad gym mistakes video compilations.
Other than the all, not much going on with training. I want to run between 20 and 30 miles a week. Mondays will be my rest day. I go into the office that day, and it’s hard to fit a run in before work, and I never have the energy to go after. Tuesday and Thursday, I plan to do short, easy runs in the morning. Wednesday is speed work. I need to figure out what I’m going to do for that. I think I want to swap between intervals and tempo runs. I like both. I prefer intervals, but I know tempo is good for you.
Friday, I’d like to start doing the indoor bike again. I’ve been slacking. I can do that in the morning and then do a short, easy run after work. Saturdays are for long runs. I haven’t been going out to the trails the last few weeks. I’ve been lazy, so I’d like to get back to trails. I want to build my long runs up. On the day I’m recording (9th), I did 12. So I have a book club every other Saturday, so I’ll do 10ish miles, and then the week after, I’ll do 14, then ten, then 16, and so on. And Sunday will be like 6-8 miles, preferably on trails.
How has your training been going so far in 2021? Are you training for anything specific or only fitness? I’d love to hear about it! Find me on Instagram at runs_on_espresso or Twitter at runsonespresso, and tell me all about your plans for 2021!
And now, coffee corner. We finally started and finished season two of Mindhunter on Netflix. I. Am. Pissed. They spent the entire season teasing and building up to season three, and there is not going to be a season three. Thanks, David Fincher. Sorry, you got bored, but the rest of us were enjoying the show and want more! I really hope someone else decides season 3 needs to be done and can do it as well as it has been. I don’t want it if it is shitty.
We also watched the Aaron Hernandez documentary on Netflix. I already knew what the “big reveal” was. I still thought it was well done. I would recommend it.
Finally, we have started Glow season two. So far, I really like it. It’s fun and cheesy and just what I need sometimes. SPOILER ALERT Although one of the last episodes we watched was when Zoyas leg gets broken, and it brought back memories. It was very much what it was like to break your leg.
And soon, hockey will be back! We aren’t going in person this season. I’m not even sure how long having fans will last. We will watch from the comfort of our couch.
Until next time, may your runs be as strong as your coffee.
