200 km in a month - a big milestone for me
When I started out in November using my Strava app, there are a number of challenges that you can take on. They are 5k, 10k, all the way up to something absurd like 100k runs in one go. They also have monthly total challenges such as 100km total all the way up to probably something crazy like 1000km, I don't know. I haven't looked that far yet.
Well when I started in November I decided to take on the 100km in a month challenge. I figured that this was just a 5k 5 times a week and I was already doing that most days anyway. But by the time I got to 100k, i was only about 18 days into the month so i figured, why not just go for a 200?
Yesterday, even though it was rainy and cold I had only 6.1 km remaining to hit 200 kilometers. I knew I had to do it so I laced up my boots, put on a long sleeve shirt and hit the bricks. I'm not gonna lie, the start of it was very difficult because of the cold. One good thing about running in the cold is that there is a sure-fire way of warming yourself up.... run harder!
I kept a good pace but unfortunately found out that my bluetooth headphones aren't exactly waterproof as they shut off halfway through the run. I find a lot of motivation in my music, so this was a bit of a downer but I knew I had to finish the 6k.
Needless to say I did not encounter very many other runners during my trip and it is easy to understand why. The weather was horrible and there were puddles all over the place that I had to dodge. In the end i easily completed the 6k without stopping and had plenty left in the tank... I easily could have done a 10k as I was just starting to hit my stride right around the time that it was time to stop.
I'm quite proud of myself for having done this because when I started the month I wasn't feeling terribly confident that I was going to be able to run the 100k, let alone double it. My plan for December is to step away from running a bit and instead hit the weights harder because although my cardio has definitely improved from all the running, I feel as though I have lost a lot of upper body muscle and I want that back.
By the way Strava is an amazing app and it is free. They do hit you up to pay for premium but I don't really understand the added benefits. The free version does all the important stuff.