Turning point

Something happened this weekend. It was a Friday afternoon, and I was transitioning my focus towards my weekend runs - ten miles Friday night, 18 miles Saturday afternoon.  With this less than cooperative winter I was planning on doing both of these runs on the treadmill like a million past weekends. And I couldn't handle it - how many more hours could I take on a spinning belt without actually going anywhere?  I literally felt like I was about at my breaking point.  I went home for a late lunch Friday to pack my gym bag and mentally regroup.  "Okay self, we have to get creative.  How can we make another treadmill run actually be not just bearable, but FUN."   And then it hit me - what's one of the most fun things to watch?  Stand up comedy!  Sure, it's always better when you've had a glass or two of wine and your stomach is full of quesadillas and fresh guacamole, but water and a gel cube or two will be a good substitute, right? 

So I loaded a few of my favorite comedians into 'My List' on Netflix and had renewed hope that maybe, just maybe, I could actually have fun during my evening run.  Just a few hours later I hopped on the mill, set up my Netflix to stream into the screen of the treadmill, and Katt Williams and I got to work.  I have to admit, I was a little cautious of laughing out loud while running,  maybe people would think I was nuts?  So I kept it to a near perpetual smile with a few quiet laughs to myself.  After his comedy special I went to my favorite comedian - Aziz Ansari.  He released a special almost a year ago I hadn't seen yet so I was excited for the new material.  ....  And then it  happened.  He went into a bit about marriage that had me laughing so hard I had to hop onto the side rail, double over, and literally belly laugh so hard I cried.  Yep - me, with no one near me on the other treadmills, and no sense of how loud I was really laughing because I had the volume up pretty high in my ear buds.  And you know what?  I didn't give a shit.  Here I was with just a few miles to go, my face sore from smiling, and laughing so hard I could barely breathe.  Now THAT was fun.  :)

The next day for my 18 miler I woke up with the itch to take it to the road.  Sure there was plenty of ice around, it was only 11°, and we were supposed to get a snow storm, but hey!  I had trail shoes, YakTrax, and a check card to take with.  What could go wrong, right? I knew I needed some more gel cubes, so I figured I'd go to the gym and leave from there.  I'd run at least to Endurance House and back for gels, and any longer I went was just gravy. The rest I'd do on the mill.


At first the snow was a little bothersome since I was heading mostly into the wind and it was snowing pretty hard, so all the snowflakes felt like tiny daggers flying into my eyes, but it soon let up and just floated around me.  It was peaceful, hardly no cars on the road, and I had added some new tunes to my playlist so I was thoroughly enjoying my run.  After my stop to get my Cliff Shot Bloks I decided to do a bigger loop outside, so I headed towards the Pheasant Branch Conservancy.  The snow was great for traction on top of all the ice, but I still had to be pretty careful.  I ran a segment that was a couple miles long, then stopped at a PDQ before entering the big loop.  I bought a bottle of water to carry, and a Red Bull that I asked the clerk to keep behind the register until I got back.  (When it's that cold I don't like to drink cold things later in the run, so I wanted it to be room temperature by the time I drank it.)  I really hit my sweet spot the next few miles.  The trees were beautiful and served as a great wind block, the few people I saw were really friendly and the fresh air was amazing.  It was just cold enough that I didn't want to look at my gps EVER so I didn't really know how far I was at any point either, which is a nice change from the treadmill display staring back at me. 

As I headed north the footing got worse, and there was a lot of wide open areas.  I knew that the strip of trail heading back west would be the worst of the entire run (into the wind, not protected, and really icy) so I decided to jump off the trail into a beautiful residential area for a little extra mileage and to build up my body heat before hitting the hard part.  Well, it started out seeming like a good idea.  I *thought* I'd remember the street names and glide effortlessly back to where I came from, but instead I got completely turned around, ended up on the shoulder of a country highway for a while heading north when I thought I was going south.  Then resorting to trying to run in the highest elevation of the neighborhood to at least see where I had to go, but it was farm land on one side, and the conservancy on the other, and they looked exactly the same with the increasing snow fall. 


After admitting to myself that my sense of direction was completely nonexistent without the sun being visible I changed my focus to try and find someone shoveling their driveway so I could ask for directions.  A few blocks later I spotted an older woman shoveling and had a dog running around the yard so I ran up to her and laughed at her surprised expression (I was a snow covered, snot encrusted mess with a big old smile at the time).  She did her best to remember street names, but then said 'can I just give you a ride?  I have no idea what the street names are to get over there.'  My fingers were getting WAY cold at this point so I enthusiastically agreed. Her Portuguese Water Dog named Lodi hopped in the backseat and I quickly saw that I was 100% backwards in thinking I knew where I was going.  She offered to take me all the way home, but I said dropping me back at the trail was just fine. 


It was tough getting out of the heated leather seats to immediately tackle the toughest trail section of the day, but I was too busy laughing at my poorly thought out plan to notice how cold I got.  A few miles later I was back at the PDQ and happily downed half the warm Red Bull while patiently answering the questions from the clerk -'so, you like doing this?  Are you sure you can get back to where you're going?'  I must have looked worse than how I felt, or he just wasn't used to seeing runners. 

The few miles back to the gym went by incredibly fast and I was happy to see that I logged 15 miles in the snow before heading back inside, which only left three miles to do on the treadmill. 

This weekend felt like a turning point for me - I no longer feel like I'm just logging miles and getting through it.  I'm running miles and really enjoying it again, I'm not pre-occupied with the effort or the logistics.  It's finally second nature and I can feel myself recovering faster, breathing easier,  even laughing during these runs!  It's given me a lot of confidence that I've been doing the right things these past couple months.  I have my first 20 miler of the year this weekend, and then it's off to Vegas for a work trip.  I'm excited to share with you guys the kinds of workouts I do when I'm traveling.  I don't believe in the excuse that someone can't workout just because they're on the road!

 

7 Winter Running Tips

For all my northern Midwest friends, winter is upon us.  We slid into work this morning, tried to remember where we put our Yaktrax back in March, and are working on building motivation to run in the cold, dark nights that are going to be with us for the next few months.

I can finally say that I am adjusted to my rest cycle and have now been able to enjoy the free time – getting to my Christmas shopping early, deep cleaning my apartment, spending time with old friends, logging a few extra hours at work.  It took time, but now I am realizing the benefit to taking a true rest from running. I have been running maybe twice a week, but nothing fast or long – max 5 miles or so at a conversational pace.  I realize that in the past I would start a training cycle already really in shape – granted, it’s nice to feel like you can kill any workout, but part of training is to get yourself in shape, and then sharpen your abilities.  I am excited about starting training on December 1^st with fresh legs, a 100% healthy body, and to have all my personal and professional life responsibilities in order. 

One other benefit of resting, is that I haven’t had to head out in the cold very much!  I have had quite a few people asking me for winter running advice the last few weeks, so in light of that, and getting myself motivated to head out the door in a few days, here are my top 7 winter running tips.

1 – A great thing about running in the dark is that you can see cars coming really easily – but you want to know what’s more important than that?  THEY NEED TO SEE YOU! Please try and wear something that is reflective – a vest, reflective details on your jackets or pants, blinking lights, there’s Velcro reflectors you can put around your wrists or ankles.  Seriously – anything helps.  Lots of running outwear is black, but wearing something with a color, topped with reflective gear will help you to not end up underneath a sliding car. 

2 – The second thing in terms of importance in my book is being able to see.  I’m a big fan of head lamps (or torches as they are called in England!) and it can really help you out on those dark nights.  I have a couple Petzl’s and they work really well.  If you have had yours sitting in a drawer since last winter, go ahead and change the batteries right away. If it’s been a while since you’ve used it, you may not realize how dim it really is, and being out on a run in winter when your head lamp dies is not a good time.  I don’t always like to wear head lamps, so in that case I will go to residential areas that are well lit.  If there isn’t any snow on the roads I’ll try and choose a neighborhood that had pretty new roads and just run loops there.  The newer pavement helps lessen your chances of tripping.  If there’s snow on the roads, I try and pick roads that aren’t traveled on much, and will run in the road on the fresh snow.  Sidewalks get icy and are a constant set of mini hurdles, so I prefer road but NEVER with music.  Which leads me to…

3 – Use all your senses.  Your vision will be greatly impaired when you’re running at night – there’s lots of shadows, dark areas, headlights that practically blind you, so I focus more on using my sense of smell and my hearing.  I NEVER wear earbuds when running at night – as a woman, you have to be aware of your surroundings (and everyone needs to be aware of cars, dogs, creaking tree branches, even owls!) so keep the iPod at home and listen to what’s going on around you.  You may think that my saying I use my sense of smell is odd – but it really helps me to know who is around.  You can notice a person’s cigarette smoke or cologne very quickly in contrast to the crisp smell of winter, so you can figure out where someone is at without them even making a sound. 

4 – Dress in layers, and not just any layers, but tech fiber layers.  Most people have a tendency to wear way more than they need to as soon as the temperature drops below 45° or so.  With keeping that in mind, you should expect to be cold for the first ten minutes or so of your run.  To help be as comfortable as you can you need two things – keep your core warm with your first layer being a snug fitting tech fiber shirt, and invest in a good pair of tech fiber running tights.  Having a base layer that fits you snugly and wicks away moisture will keep you more comfortable.  I prefer to wear running sleeves instead of a long sleeve shirt, because if I get too warm I can just pull them off and then use them as Kleenex.  (kinda gross, I know, but very practical!)  I love keeping my ears covered once it gets below 35° or so, and I almost always have gloves or mittens with.  If there’s more than a 10mph breeze out there, try and wear a windbreaker type jacket and pants of similar material over your tights – it will help a LOT.

Sporting the layers with two wonderful people I used to coach. 2008.

5 – Lotion.  You can have the perfect layers on, a reflective vest, and the warmest hat ever, but WOW does it hurt when your face gets cold and you start getting icicles on your eyelashes.  My favorite line of defense for this is to put lotion on my face, and thick chap stick on my lips.  It provides another layer of protection from the cold and makes it a lot more bearable.  You may still get little icicles on your eyelashes, but you’ll appreciate them more as being pretty than a miserable side effect of your face feeling like it’s going to freeze off. 

6 – If it’s windy outside, do your best to start into the wind, and have the wind at your back as you head home.  If you start out with the wind it will be a harsh reality when you turn around – you likely worked up a bit of a sweat and once that frigid air is in your face your temp will drop – quickly. 

7 – Watch your footing!!  This may seem like a no-brainer, but every year I have running friends that take a digger, get injured, slip and fall on ice – it’s a hazard of living in the upper Midwest, but with a couple precautions you can really diminish you chances of falling and injuring yourself.  First – wear Yaktrax.  They go on over your shoe and provide a LOT of added traction. Secondly – Do yourself a favor and don’t try and do speedwork or even strong pick ups outside if there’s even a hint of ice anywhere.  You’re just asking for it.  And lastly – if the weather is really bad, you’ve recently had an ice storm, or there’s more than two inches of fresh powder, just find a treadmill – any treadmill, and do your miles there.  Your chances of wiping out and pulling/breaking/tweaking something increase exponentially when it truly gets bad, so just play it safe and stay inside.  (Or throw on your snowshoes/skiis/snowboard for a different kind of workout.)  Your 2014 racing season will thank you.