January wrap-up: Kicking off the year with a busy month

Posted on by Vanessa Junkin (She Runs by the Seashore)
My mileage total for January was 120.27 miles. I took this photo on the last day of the month.

The first month of 2020 is behind us! I did see a lot online about January dragging on, and it did feel like kind of a slow month. February already seems to be moving faster, and I’m getting closer to my March 1 marathon in Atlanta.

In January…

  1. I ran 120.27 miles. I’m happy with this start to the year. In the last few days, I realized I was getting close to 120 and made that happen.
  2. I ran one race. This was the PHUNT Trail Race 25K, which for me was more of a run than a race. It was tough — but fun (or “phun”)!
  3. I’ve been training for the Publix Atlanta Marathon. I’ve been taking a low-key approach to training. I have run about 16 miles for my long run for the past four weeks (one of which was Feb. 1), and I’m trying to hit 30-plus miles a week, but I’m not stressing myself out to hit certain numbers or do certain workouts. I’m trying to keep this training cycle fun and stress-free, and see how it goes in Atlanta, especially since I know it will be hilly. I might step up the training for my next marathon (Philly in November, which will be flatter than Atlanta). Weeks 8-11 of training consisted of 20.35 miles, 32 miles, 22.77 miles and 34 miles, respectively.
  4. I ran in one new-to-me place. This was the WB&A Trail in Bowie. I also ran some new roads in Arlington when I was in town for the RunWashington meeting.
  5. I found a cent. I’m planning to track how much money I find on the run this year. During January, that was just one cent.
  6. I went to the gym four times. One of the goals I set for 2020 was to go to the gym at least four times a month. I went four times pretty early in January — two barre classes, a Pilates class and a treadmill run — and then dropped off. But now, it’s a new month, so I need to get back to the gym!
  7. I kicked off the year with yoga. I went to a yoga class at Meta Yoga on New Year’s Day. I haven’t been to yoga since, but I’m itching to get back. I enjoyed starting my year in that way and with setting an intention for the new year.
  8. I ran some hills. Here’s another thing that I slacked off on as the month went on. I ran hills on the treadmill, on the Beaver Dam hill near Ben’s Red Swings, in Arlington, and at PHUNT in January, but after PHUNT, I dropped the hill workouts. I need to get some more hills in before Atlanta.
  9. I did Dry January. I’d never done Dry January before, and I thought it would be a good way to start the year and potentially be a little healthier, even though I don’t drink that much anyway. Other than the early hours of New Year’s Day, I didn’t have any alcohol in January. Although I enjoy having a beer sometimes, it wasn’t too hard of a challenge.
  10. I participated in a BibRave Pro step challenge. BibRave offered a step challenge using the FitnessBank step counter app, which synced with my Garmin. Seeing others’ step numbers, I soon realized I was not going to end up in the Top 3 for an automatic prize (there will also be a drawing for another prize winner) — the winner ended up with over a million steps in January! My total for January was 361,179 steps, an average of about 11,650 per day.

At the end of this month, I’ll be in Atlanta! How was your January?