January Review

I had a bit of a rough patch at the end of last year and the first couple of weeks this year, but I think I have turned it around. I have had some good runs and today was the 18th day of my streak. I have really tried to play it smart and not pile on a bunch of crazy miles to injure myself. My plantar fasciitis is still giving me some mild pains but lots of stretching throughout the day and especially after the run really has helped it significantly.

The weather has been incredible here for January, I think it has been in most places. Here is a shot of my run last Sunday.

Picture perfect day, 40 degrees and no wind!

Along with my 18 day streak I have been practicing the my 100ups before each run. I truly believe that this has helped improve my form, I do not do them barefoot...maybe I should be.

My store has partnered with the local gym and we are putting on a "Healthy Lifestyle Course". Part of the course is keeping a food log. I didn't do so well at logging my food the first week, but then I downloaded the app from www.myfitnesspal.com . It's easy to use, you just input what you eat, so far I haven't found anything that wasn't in the "food library", input any exercise that you do and it keeps track of calories and nutrients for you. It's a nice tool, here is a screen shot for what I have eaten so far today. Looks like I shouldn't have eaten that Wendy's breakfast sandwich this morning! I would like to lose about 7 - 8 lbs to get back to racing weight, but more importantly I want to be eating healthier.

As a wrap up...my miles have been good lately. In spite of a rough start to the month, I finished up running 115 miles for the month. Here is what my streak looks like. As you can see below, nothing crazy on any one day and the days where I only have 2 or 3 miles are pretty much my rest days.

I feel like I have a good base established now so the plan is to move on to some longer runs and add in some strength training. I would really like to keep the streak going for at least 30 days but I won't be so stubborn as to risk injury.

What has your longest running streak been?

Do you or have you ever used a food log?