Wisconsin Run Challenge: Part II

A few weeks ago, I introduced you to the Wisconsin Run Challenge that Jody and I set up to keep us active during the winter months. The initial plan of the challenge was to do it once, but we surprised ourselves by completing our virtual races quicker than we anticipated. In fact, last winter, we ran four different races.

I'm not going to lie, she kicked my butt in three of the races, and I had to wake up at 4:30 AM one morning just to achieve a "push" on one of them.

Race #1: November 27 - January 1
Jody's Goal: Madison, WI (about 74 miles)
Donald's Goal: Green Bay, WI (about 126 miles)

This race started in late November. I believe the Milwaukee Drumstick Dash was the kickoff. During this first challenge, we permitted walking to count towards the mileage -- no matter the distance. I can find nothing more boring than walking on a treadmill for several hours, which Jody would do. She would go to the gym and watch a basketball game or the half of a football game. Thus, I would run a hard 3+ miles and feel really good about myself until Jody informed me that she had gone 6 miles during her gym visit (3 miles of running and 3 miles of walking). To her credit, she would go to the gym twice for every one of my runs. Sure, I could have walked more (I should have walked more), but I didn't. In short, it did not take Jody that long to reach 75 miles -- not quite 3 weeks. So we started Round 2.

Race #2: January 10 - February 18
Jody's Goal: Madison, WI back to Milwaukee (about 74 miles)
Donald Goal: Finish running to Green Bay (about 42 miles) and return to Milwaukee (for a total of 171 miles)

This time, I tried to fill in the big loophole. For this race, we stipulated that we could only count a maximum of 2 miles of walking per workout (ideally, this would be a 1-mile warm up, followed by a 1-mile cool down). I still got crushed. Granted, I ran nearly 40 more miles than her, but it was still not nearly enough.

Race #3: February 19 - April 3
Jody's Goal: Milwaukee to Indianapolis, IN (282 miles)
Donald's Goal: Finishing running back from Green Bay and push on to Indianapolis (343 miles)

I had better luck during this round. This time, we changed up the destination. Our goal was Indianapolis but the catch was that I had to finish running back from Green Bay, while Jody could start from Milwaukee. The idea behind this variable distance was that I was going to run more as I trained for the Door County Half Marathon.

During this race, we added a new twist to help us account for the bigger distance. Every Sunday evening, we added to our running total the week's mileage from our Fitbit Zips (although I have found it to be consistently a half-mile or more off after my runs). For our competition, the Fitbits allowed us to count running as double any walking we did.

Depending on who ask, you will get a different answer on who won this race. I say I won by a hair but she will say that it was a tie at best. Truth be told, this came down to the wire. There was one point when Jody was within a trip to the gym to beat me -- she had about 7 miles to go and I needed just over 10. Confident that she was going to go to the gym one morning to reach the finish line first, I woke up at 4:30 AM, jumped out of bed, and cranked out 10.5 miles before the sun rose. Technically speaking, I reached the destination first, but because she went to the gym later that day to finish the race, I guess we can call it a push.

Race #4: April 6 - June 3
Jody's Goal: From Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Indianapolis, IN to Gateway Arc, St. Louis, MO (241 miles)
Donald's Goal: From Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Indianapolis, IN to Music City Center, Nashville, TN (289 miles)

This race was anticlimactic. The weather had changed for the better and we were both thinking about our summer plans. Jody won this race, but not in the blow-out fashion like the first two runs. By the end of it all, we were tired of trying to beat each other ... or maybe I was just tired of having my butt kicked.

Overall, the WI Race Challenge produced some impressive results:

Wisconsin Run Challenge: Part I

One of the biggest challenges of living in Wisconsin is that it is difficult to stay motivated to run during the winter months. When the wind is whipping outside, the temperature has dipped well below freezing, and there is snow and ice on the sidewalks and roads, it is pretty easy to say "I'm going to pass today." In Jody's case, running during these next few months becomes an even greater challenge because, as a CPA, this is her busy season.

Last year, we sought a way to keep us both motivated when it was either too cold and nasty to run outside or find the way to the gym.

Our solution: The Wisconsin Run Challenge.

In simple terms, this is a virtual race. "Winner buys dinner." Instead of running the same route and a distance that could be accomplished within a "normal" race period (i.e., a 5K, 10K, etc.), we extended the finish line so it would take us several weeks to reach our respective destinations. Also, because I run more often, the distances needed to be different. For example, last year, for one "race," Jody ran the equivalent distance from Milwaukee to Madison (about 75 miles) and I ran the equivalent distance from Milwaukee to Green Bay (about 126 miles).

The final piece of the challenge is the proverbial carrot. Last year, we had four separate races, two of which involved the runner-up (yes, I just said that) buying the winner something nice and edible and/or practical. For the first challenge, a nice dinner was at stake, and for the second challenge, a new pair of running shoes went to the victor.

We used Excel to keep track of our mileage. (I'm sure you can set up these types of competitions using running apps like MapMyRun, Strava, or Fitbit, but I've found Excel works just fine for us.) After each workout, we would add the distance to an Excel spreadsheet. Another area of the spreadsheet was used to determine how far each of us still had to go -- in other words, who was winning:

As you can see, Jody whipped my butt on our first race last year, but I will save that story for next week.

Overall, we accomplished our goal last year. This challenge created just enough competition to keep us active with the limited number of daylight hours and winter weather, both of which made it difficult to run or make it to the gym. I hope this works again this year, speaking of which...

This year's first challenge is set:

What's at stake? A brand new pair of running shoes.

The Year of the Goal

I am officially calling 2016 the Year of the Goal. Last year, I set my sights on just running and finishing races. At the outset of the year, my goal was to run at least one race every month … a goal that I almost achieved but deviated from once I scheduled the Chicago Marathon. This coming year, I want to set my sights on improving my race results, which I indicate in the following table.

Race	Current PR	2016 Goal
5K	0:24:09	0:23:00
10K	0:53:18	0:50:00
Half-Marathon	2:11:45	2:05:00
Marathon	5:04:36	4:59:00*

*In all honesty, my goal for this year's marathon (most likely the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis, IN) will be to run all 26.2 miles without stopping. If that happens, I will easily have a sub-5 hour race.

I'm not entirely sure if all of these are realistic. For example, although the difference with the 5K does not seem that much, to drop my time by an overall minute, I have to run 20 second faster per mile! I want need to say that I think they are achievable with some hard work and a more balanced routine and diet.

What's my plan? Hills, core, and quad strength. This means lots of hills, lots of planks, and lots of squats, lunges, and wall sits. I’ll throw in a few speed workout too. Basically, more running with some strength training tossed into the mix. Should be fun!

In addition to the major races, Strava, one of the several run programs I use to keep track of all my runs (I also use Garmin’s run tracker and MapMyRun), also monitors other PRs for various other distances, such as 400m, 1/2 mile, 1k, 1 mile, etc. Looking at the data, it has been a while since I have set any new PRs for any of these distances, so it would be nice to put a few new times atop my personal leaderboard. This might happen as I become stronger and log more miles.

Despite my efforts to improve my running this year, the "Year of the Goal" will not consume my life. I intend to use these measures as the proverbial carrot to keep me moving; to force me to get out of bed in the morning and lace up the runners. However, I'm getting married and will be going on a honeymoon, thus my running will take a distant backseat to these events and the events leading up to them.

Bring it on 2016!