Oh running, how I love thee
But you make me oh so hungry
I go through my day
Hearing myself say
What else is there here to eat?
I'd like not to gain weight
But, all those things I ate
Since I run every day,
Will the fat stay at bay?
Or will I race with 10 pounds more?
Monday
3 miles easy. Nothing too exciting.
Tuesday
I repeated the hill workout from the previous week, again at the gym at work. It told me I did 573 feet of elevation gain this time, so pretty close to before. The workout felt considerably easier this week, and I can already tell it's helping me get stronger. Really pleased about the hills.
Wednesday
Rest
Thursday
A hair over five miles, most of it in the rain. That kind of rain you might not intentionally have gone out in, but can live with finishing your workout in.
Friday
Typically if I miss the weather-appropriate dress code, I over-dress. Today I over-corrected. It was about 27 with a Feels Like temp of about 19. I wore non-thermal tights and a slightly thicker than typical long sleeve top. Not one with a mock-turtle neck or thumb holes, just a long-sleeve top. Incidentally, Runners World has a form you can fill out about temperature, gender, run type, and other things, and it will tell you what to wear. Lesson learned! It was a beautiful run--snow gently falling.
Saturday
Long run: 14 miles. When my alarm went off I got up because I knew my friends were expecting me. Otherwise, there is little chance I would have gotten up any time soon. This past week was, well, upsetting (to put it mildly) watching my beloved country unravel, and I hadn't slept well. But the schedule said run, friends would be waiting, so you run.
I pulled in a minute or two ahead of schedule and Laurie and I got right to the 2 miles our third friend, who would join us 20 minutes later, didn't have on her schedule. We ran through a park that's an old golf course. The trail was covered in patchy, light snow. Until, with no obvious warning, the light snow covered a partially frozen puddle. We both slid and flailed and tried to catch each other, and tried to get off the ice as quickly as possible. Luckily neither of us fell but we did both get a little water in our shoes (tech socks FTW!). First two miles: done.
At 7:30 Candice pulled in and had graciously planned the other 12 miles we would all share. Off we went. When we headed into Euclid Creek Reservation I knew we were in for a big downhill followed by a big uphill. What I didn't realize until much later was that the entire second half of our run would be uphill. We ended up doing ~550 feet of total elevation gain over the run. I *did* say I love hills.
Toward the end the wind picked up and the snow was whipping around. For at least the last mile we settled into quiet, and into our own paces, running in a spread out line back toward our cars. We only had one wipe out on ice and no one got hurt. By the end we were all happy to have it finished.
I stopped by the bank on the way home and walked to the Starbucks in the next lot over. All I could think was how cold I was, and if I were just then ready to start the run, I might look outside and reschedule for the next day. I'm so thankful for these ladies getting me to the start line and through these miles today. We're all training for the same event. I can't wait to share it with them.
Total weekly miles: 32
Favorite run: With no clear winner on the merit of endorphins or weather, I'll say the long run for the conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment