I’m gonna give it to you straight. Sometimes I love to blog and sometimes I think about a simpler time when I didn’t blog at all. Though I don’t even remember when that was, to be honest. I’ve been blogging since 2010. That’s almost prehistoric in the world of the interwebs.
Anyways, today was one of those days. I don’t have a door to my office since we converted my old office into our home gym (totes not complaining about that because I am loving it!), which makes it incredibly hard to focus when I’ve got kids and my husband traipsing around the house on days off from school and work. I start to feel guilty when I sit down to do work — blogging or working on training plans — and everyone’s running around playing and being busy. Yeah, that mom guilt stuff. It’s for the birds. Bah! Thankfully the house is quiet now and I get some spare time to myself. And by spare time I mean an hour before it’s bedtime for me because I’ve got some running to do this week.
The Week of ‘The Treadmill’ (+ Fave Running Clothes)
But before we go there, let’s look at my week last week. It was the week of The Treadmill. We had some whacko weather here in CLE so I took it easy and planned all my runs on the ‘mill. I’ve also been working on my planks (though not as diligently as I should).
“If you want to run fast, run faster. If you want to run far, run farther.”
Tuesday — 5 miles
I struggled big time on Tuesday. Until I realized I was running way too fast. I was trying to maintain a solid pace but it’s been months since I was running a decent clip for my easy pace runs so I had to dial it back a bit. See that quote up there? /\ /\ /\ That’s me. But I’m trying to do both.
Wednesday — 6 miles (fartleks)
Wednesday treadmill miles were surprisingly not awful. I watched Tombstone on Roku (yeah, baby) which helped pass the time immensely. This was also a fartlek run which meant I got to blow it out in the middle miles. It felt fantastic. I did some strength training after this run which came back to bite me as I had done a new lunge variation which apparently rocked my world. I could hardly navigate stairs for the next three days.
Thursday — 4 miles
On Thursday I finished watching Creed. Thankfully my four miler seemed quite short compared to the other two days. Oh except my quads which were still on fire from Wednesday’s workout. Side note, while Creed was good it was nowhere near as energizing as Rocky IV.
Saturday — 10 miles
I ran outside on Saturday! It was a damn miracle! It was in the 20s and felt just wonderful. I ran with a group of people, some I had never met before, plus I got to run with one of my clients! It was a fantastic run. I had 9 miles on my training calendar but I knew my client had 10 miles on hers so I figured I’d stick with her and run her miles. I briefly stopped and thought I’d wait and catch her on the way back but then thought better of it. You know, creepy car… (insert eye roll).
Everything felt great except the first few downhills. My quads were still rocked from those darn lunges (never again) and I could feel it burning. The second set of downhills were fine, thankfully. Overall it was a really nice run and it was nice to meet new people and enjoy a lovely winter day. (Did I really just say that?)
The only proof of my 10-mile long run.
My Favorite Winter Running Clothes
And since I’m linking up for Tuesdays on the Run today, I should take a moment and sing praises for my all-time favorite winter running item. At the beginning of December I told you about 5 Things I’d Buy Again. One of those items happened to be the Nike Shield 2.0 Running Jacket. It is literally the best money I’ve ever spent on running apparel. This jacket, I shit you not, has kept me warm in negative temperatures. NEGATIVES, people. It’s got a DWR coating along with a windproof front and arms. Plus it’s got these amazing pocket mittens PLUS thumbholes. Do NOT underestimate those mad geniuses at Nike. Do not.
Nike Shield 2.0 Running Jacket, ftw!
I also really love my mock neck I received from MCM. I didn’t quite know what to expect because I had heard complaints about them in the past but between the Nike jacket and this shirt, I’ve never been happier to run in the cold. And that’s saying a lot coming from me!
This shirt. The greatest!
Looking ahead, hopefully I’ll have some decent weather to run outside again this week instead of on the treadmill. My mileage will be ramping up as well as the hill repeats. I desperately need to work on my power and I know these will help. I’ve got goals. Gotta make it happen.
And that’s about it! I hope you have a fantastic week and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for the Running Coaches’ Corner linkup.
xo
TALK TO ME!
Do you prefer to run outside or on the treadmill in the winter?
Hills: love ’em or hate ’em?
Linking up with My No-Guilt Life, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and MCM Mama Runs for Tuesdays on the Run, and HoHo Runs and MissSippi Piddlin’ for the Weekly Wrap.
