February continued a couple themes for me:

1. I ran more than any previous February.  A lot more.  2009 was 106.4, 2010 was 57.4, and this year I ran 161.4.  Nice.
2. I came up short of my target mileage.  Closer than January, and honestly closer than I thought I’d get in a month with only 28 days, but still missed the 165 mark.  So, we’re 2 months in and I’ve missed the target both times, which means that while I’m way ahead of previous years in mileage, I’m behind pace for getting 2k.
3. I ran over 100 miles.  My triple-digit month streak is now at 12.

The tempo runs are still going well.  I did three (one week I skipped the tempo to run recovery miles after a harder long run): 4 miles @ 8:03, 4.5 miles @ 8:04, and my longest tempo to date was 5 miles @ 8:09.  The last one was tough towards the end, but what a feeling knowing I had done it!  That alone makes me feel stronger as a runner, and knowing you CAN do it is all the difference sometimes late in a race.

No races this month, but I am closing in on my first Half-Marathon of the year at the end of March.  I’ll be shooting for a 1:50.

Rewind stats:

• Total miles: 161.4
• Average per week: 40.4
• Races: 0
• New records: N/A
• Consecutive triple-digit months: 12

Yes, I’m a little behind, but I need to go ahead and recap how my running went in January so that I can then recap how it went in February so that I can then be caught up.  Understand?  Great.

After seeing how my running totals have progressed over the last 3 years, I decided that my goal for 2011 would be to run 2,000 miles, which I then broke down into 12 parts so I’d have some kind of monthly goal to shoot for.  That number is 165 (I know that’s 20 short, but I can make that up towards the end of the year easily).  Of course, running is rarely that simple – monthly mileage fluctuates depending on what you’re training for, so there will be months that are a bit higher or lower, but at least I have a target.

For reference, my January totals in past years were 84 and 57 (2009 and 2010), so this was going to be quite a bump up in early year mileage, and for that reason alone I wasn’t upset that I missed the 165 target.  Not by much, but I came up a little short with 152, which is still almost double my best January.

Two things of note happened in January:

1. I started doing weekly tempo runs.  A much better and faster member of an online running community mentioned that adding these to my routine would really help my race times, and so I figured it was worth a shot.  Turns out he was right.  My “Tuesday tempos” turned out results like 4 miles @ 7:55 pace, 4.5 miles @ 8:17, and 4 miles @ 8:11.
2. I PR’ed my first 8k.  I know, it was going to be a PR anyway because it was my first, but I ran it perfectly.  I had a target goal and beat it by almost a minute.  This was the first race that put my tempo runs to the test, and it felt great to “pass” it.  My goal was 40:00 and I finished in 39:04. You can read about it here if you’re really bored.

Rewind stats:

• Total miles: 152.0
• Average per week: 38.0
• Races: 1
• New records: 8k (39:04)
• Consecutive triple-digit months: 11

It's hard to put a positive spin on a heart attack, but they gave it a shot.

It’s official.  I signed up for the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC, on April 2 despite finding this feature story on the main page at the event site.  Really?  You’re strategy for getting me to sign up was leading with a story about how a man had a heart attack during the race last year?

Of course, I still signed up, which makes me wonder who’s the real idiot?  Them for using the story or me for still racing after seeing it.