Confession: I wasn’t going to post anything today because I’ve been busy cleaning the house, grocery shopping, and making all the necessary preparations for the big upcoming holiday. But when I sat down to start replying to comments from yesterday’s post, I kind of got the itch to write. So here I am.
Last week’s workouts were all right. I was battling anxiety, as you know, as well as a mild cold. I felt good while I was running but it was hard to be motivated to get out the door in the first place. This week I’m hemming and hawing about the Turkey Trot that may or may not happen on Thursday. I don’t know what my deal is. Maybe I’m just burnt out, I dunno. We’ll see what Thursday brings. In any event, here’s what happened last week:
Lessons Learned on a Winter Run
Monday – 8 miles
Monday was my long run, if you can believe it. My longest run since Marine Corps. It was really nice to get out there again. It felt tough, though. I look forward to the days that 10 miles are easy again.
Tuesday – 6 miles
I set out for a 6-mile progression run on Tuesday. For some reason, my knee was really hurting me. I changed my stride a bit which seemed to help. And the rest of the run just fell in place. It was really nice and effortless. The kind of effortless that I was looking for on Monday. I was thankful to get it on Tuesday despite it being a harder effort.
Thursday – 5.83 miles
On Thursday my son was out of school early. I tried to time my run so that I could accomplish my run at the track and then hop in the car and drive the 20 feet to the school to pick him up. It worked out pretty well except when I saw the buses rolling in I started getting anxious. I decided to cut it short by one interval (not a big deal in the grand scheme of things) and glad I did because when I arrived the parking lot was almost full!
Saturday – 6.44 miles
Terrible. If there’s one word to describe Saturday’s run it would be “Terrible.” The weather forecast was awful. It would be 15-18 mph winds, rain (turning to snow), and the temperature was supposed to drop about 10-15˚ while we were out. But I wanted to do my run on Saturday instead of Sunday since I was worried about black ice under the snow. It started off “warm” at 48˚ and when I stepped outside at my house, I thought I was dressed appropriately with capris, a long sleeve shirt, a rain jacket, and a hat. I could not have been more wrong.
I met Eugenia and Carole for an easy, wet 9 miles.
Pile of clothes that did NOT keep me warm…
A Winter Run
Within minutes of starting, my quads were already frozen. I couldn’t feel them. I tried to ignore it and enjoy the company of my friends. But about 2 miles in, panic was starting to set in. I stopped to rub my quads a bit to get some blood flowing to them. It didn’t help. I literally could feel nothing. I’ve never had that sensation before and it was frightening. I did my best to press on but it got to the point where I was no longer listening to my friends or participating in the conversation because all I could think about was how cold I was and what kind of permanent damage I might be doing to myself by continuing on. I finally spoke up and told them I needed to turn around. My goal at that point was to get back to my car as quickly as possible.
Eugenia continued on — she’s training for a half marathon. Carole and I turned back. A mile or so later, I could finally feel my legs. But I swapped one for the other — now I couldn’t feel my hands, my wrists, or my forearms. My jacket was soaking wet, I had no gloves, and I had no pockets. I was literally out of options. I tugged at my undershirt to ball up my hands under my one remaining warm layer, but it didn’t help much. After 6+ wet, freezing miles, we were finally back to our cars. I turned up my heat to 80˚ on full blast, stripped off all my wet clothes, and shivered my way home. My hands were still freezing by the time I got home.
Lessons Learned
What did I learn on this run? I learned that I still hate running in the cold. I learned that I still would rather be too hot than too cold. I learned that I will literally wear all the clothes next time.
Next time? I wear #alltheclothes!
I’m planning on running 9 miles this weekend. I need to make it happen for my sanity. I’ve also got a decision to make about this Turkey Trot business. I’m guessing I’ll probably run it, but since it’s kind of an expensive race and I’m on the fence about it, I’ll register at the last minute if I do decide to go. Other than that, I’ve got one hard run but I’m not sure if I’ll make it to the track or not — depends on the weather I suppose.
Have a great one, friends!
xo
TALK TO ME!
Are you running a Turkey Trot?
Should I run one?!
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. Also linking up with Nicole, Annmarie, Jen, and Michelle for Wild Workout Wednesday, and myself, Susie, Debbie, and Lora Marie for the Running Coaches’ Corner linkup.
