And month #2 of 2021 is in the books. It has been one of my more trying months as far as my mental health which I touch a little bit in the No TV update section below. With that said I think I am on the upswing again finally. Here is to a sunnier and better March!
No TV update
As stated in my last post I think have been using the TV to cope to much lately. Well the challenge started out great but fell apart in dramatic fashion. The first 2 weeks of the month went great, read a shit ton and got stuff done that I have been putting off for far to long, ect. Then Feb 12th happened. The temps dropped down to 0 degrees or lower for the next 4 or so days, then Valentines Day came around followed directly the next day with what would have been my 1 year wedding anniversary on the 15th if Sonja and I were still together. I fell into a deep depression that lasted for weeks. That weekend and the following weekend I did not even get out of bed from Saturday mid-day until Monday mornings, I have never been so low. You can see it reflected in the training graphs below where I missed 2 long runs that I normally do on Sundays (yes I spent 2 weekends in a row in bed). Anyways, I fell back into old patterns using TV to cope and to shut out the world. I would lay in bed and watch Netflix or Amazon Prime on my IPhone to shut out the world. I am just now starting to get myself out of his black hole in the past few days and while out on my daily dog walk last week I listened to this, Trailrunner DNF Podcast #10 which you can get here. The podcast is about depression and binge eating in male ultrarunners. It really hit home. I have always struggled to some degree with both issues for years but never knew how to talk about it or how to even put it into words. Mike just did that for me in this podcast. Guys aren't supposed to struggle with issues like this according to society. It is sort of a relief to hear someone else talk about it, as he says, when going through it you feel like you are the only one in the world with these issues, good to know that is not true. Give it a listen. It really hit home for me.
Training Update
Even with the bout of depression that hit me this month I still ended up having the 2nd biggest month ever hour-wise so that is a win I guess. I still doing the stretching at least 30 minutes every night (most nights, missed a couple) and my mobility has come leaps and bounds. I came into the year with an achilles injury which I talked about last month, well that is gone. Back to jumping rope and everything else, non-issue now. Only went skiing once this month, I had 3 other days scheduled (even took off work) but ended up staying home, jogging then crawling back into bed. Yep it was a tough month as I talked about above. At least I was able to force the run or lifting on most days even if they were less than ideal.
Also did my first race of 2021 on the last day of the month yesterday, Highlands Ranch 10K. Ended up doing better than expectations. Went into the race with the goal of going sub 40 minutes since I have not done that in a couple of years. Honestly did not know what kind of shape I was in and this was to be the test to see where I stood. Ended up dropping a 35:39 for the overall win. Shocked..... I really needed that positive reinforcement for my mental health. I really did not think I was even able to break 40 minutes right now and to be able just showed me that I am farther long than I thought I was. And no the course was not short. Here is the Strava data on that here.
Here are the total hours broken down by activity for the month.
February GoRuck Tribe
Still on track for the GoRuck Tribe for 2021. You can find the information on it here if you are interested. Here is what it involved for February. If you got a post card from me this month, this was the driving force behind that. Hope to keep that up going forward for I know how much I enjoy receiving them so I am sure others enjoy it as well. Looking forward to the March activities. Been fun!
Goals Check In
- Re- Qualify for the Hardrock lottery- signed up for Run Rabbit Run 100
- Average a Peak a week in 2021- Still averaging
- Travel somewhere new for a race- Trip to North Carolina in May scheduled
- Run Coaching Certification- 55% done
- Read at least 30 books- 11 completed
- Sky Dive
- Leave the lower 48- Is it possible due to Covid?
- Travel somewhere I have never been if I can't leave the lower 48
- Keep the blog more updated- on track
- Backpacking on the Colorado Trail for 3-7 days
Pictures in February
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