Carmel Week 5: This Weather is Stealing My Miles!

This Weather is Stealing My Miles!

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This weather has me all f'd up this week. It's goofing with my running plans and making me mentally unstable. Due to the nature of my job, I'm in this crap throughout the day. I'm just over it! I opted for the treadmill for my speed work in fear that I'd hurt myself. I sucked it up and went outside the other days, but it was stupid.

I missed some intended mileage on Wednesday. I wanted to run 10 more minutes. I was so close to finishing later than evening, but work was too crazy and left me with a couple hours of unexpected documentation to deal with. After asking Coach to let me run long on Friday due to a couple of things out of my control, he told me not to make up for my 55 minute Friday run [I was to take off Saturday and do my scheduled walk on Sunday]. I was like NO!!! I am NOT missing a 55 minute run and pretending it never existed! After whining about it, we compromised and decided I'd still rest on Saturday, and I could choose walk OR run on Sunday. I'm not letting this stupid weather steal my miles from me!

• 12/25: 6 miles, 9:10/mile. My regular easy run with hill surges (10x10 seconds). I kept it in my hood today, but didn't get to use the hill I was interested in because of the slick sidewalks (this particular hill is by a busy road). I had to find the best one possible in which I could use the road. It was so freaking cold outside which made me dread the upcoming week because it was only getting colder!
  

  

  A white Christmas in Columbus!

• 12/26: 8.45 miles, 8:17/mile. Today's speed workout was a progressive run: 10 minute warm up, 50 minute progression [20 steady, 15 faster, 10 faster, 5 fastest but still in control], 10 minute cool down. I opted for the treadmill in fear that my limbs would snap if I tried running fast in the frigid temps. My paces were as shown in the pic below. I wish I had been able to run this on the road and without looking at paces, but it wasn't worth it today. I just tried to keep in mind what a Hal Higdon tempo run would look like and keep the paces based on his principles.
  

  
• 12/27: 7.17 miles, 9:02/mile. OMG...this cold weather is absolutely ridiculous!! Today was, by far, the worst. I enjoyed my time with the girls, but it's just too damn cold to enjoy the run. I intended to run 75 minutes, but stopped around 65 minutes because it was suddenly colder, and I just wasn't feeling it. The instruction was to run 60-75 minutes, so I still accomplished the workout.
• 12/28: 10 cycling miles, 45 minutes 32 seconds. Work has been insanely busy, and my kids have been insanely insane. Jimmy looked at me and said "So, child watch tonight?" YES SIR! We took ourselves to the gym, put the kiddos in child watch, and exercised the stress away. 
• 12/29: 16.01 miles, 8:53/mile; Back workout, 40 minutes. On a Friday?! Yes. Due to the weather and the fact that I'm taking James to see Paw Patrol in the morning, I asked Coach if I could run long today. My intention was to run on the treadmill (which I hate to run on more than 6-8 miles) so that I didn't have to deal with the cold weather. My BFF texts me last night to ask about my running plans. She convinced me to deal with the cold temps by saying she'd run all 16 with me! Say what?! I sucked it up, put on triple layers, and had an amazing early morning run with only two death-defying situations.
  

  

  Amanda and me.

  
  

  

  This is what me and my fellow runners are dealing with! BS!!

• 12/30: REST. I promised Zach I would not run or take a brisk walk today. I did stay pretty active most of the day. I shoveled our driveway and sidewalks in the morning, took James downtown to the Ohio Theater, and went on  a cleaning rampage after dinner. I think I pulled a back muscle (or it's just really tight and irritated)! Ugh. I tried upping some weight at the gym yesterday. I think that irritated it. After all of the shoveling and housework, it got to the point where I had it on the hot pack and tennis ball.
  

  

  Although the show was super annoying, his excitement was SO worth it!

• 12/31: 6.3 miles, 9:15/mile. What a glorious run! The temps, of course, were frigid in the early morning hours, so I opted for a sunny run in the mid to upper teens! It's amazing the difference a little sun makes. I was able to connect with Katie. She took me on a tour of her surrounding neighborhoods. The miles flew by as we chatted about the habits of our families.
  

  

  Katie took me on a tour of Medallion.

  

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I finished 2017 with 2075.18 miles! I'm a little surprised considering I followed the four day per week running rule in the spring (to prevent postpartum injury). The spring brought me several highs, while the fall...well...not so much. Regarding my fall struggles and the meds I was on, I think the doc and I have finally found something that works for my body and my budget! I hope it continues to help and allow me to be more mentally AND physically stable.

Aside from the typical paying off school debt and growing as a wife/mom, these are my 2018 goals:

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS!

**Side note about my back: After all of the adulting on Saturday, I could hardly move by bedtime. I couldn't believe how intense the pain was in my back. I was hoping I could just sleep it off, but it was keeping me awake. Finally, at 4:20 in the morning, I got out of bed, took some ibuprofen, and tried to sleep on the couch with the heating pad on my back. Although it was very difficult to fall back asleep, my back did feel better in the morning. I was very cautious the rest of the day and avoided my intended yoga workout.