2 Weeks Worth Of Workout Updates...

WARNING!

This will probably be boring to most of you...but for my own personal use, here are my most recent workouts:

Friday, February 12, 2010: 3.2 mi run (fastest pace this year - cut MINUTES off my time!)

Sunday, February 14, 2010: 4 mi run (Love 2 Run Race....miserable. just miserable. Had 7 miles on the schedule, but could barely shuffle along enough to finish the race. It was -3 degrees out and THE most miserable run of my life. Period.)

Monday, February 15, 2010: Just Dance (Wii game...and yes, it's a workout!)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010: 4 miles on elliptical, legs & abs (How cute was the elliptical to say that I did 4 miles in just 30 minutes?? Cuz yeah, we all know I don't run at a 7:30 pace! That's just plain funny right there. I think the elliptical just wants to be my friend, so she over-did it on the niceness scale. I tried to tell her that it's one thing to be nice and another thing to be FAKE. Guess she just doesn't get it....like so many other girls I know, lol. But it's okay. At least she's not mean like the treadmill. I hate that bitch.)


Thursday, February 18, 2010: 1.75 mile run (Pathetic, I tell you. This was SUPPOSED to be a 3 mile run. But I just wasn't feeling it last week. AT ALL. I mean, after that dreadful -3 degree race with all the pain and discomfort, I couldn't even THINK about running. That's why I did the elliptical the day before. I took a brief nap after work and was soooo tired and had no desire to run...but it was sunny and 48 degrees outside - 50+ degrees warmer than Sunday! So I felt like I really needed to take that opportunity to get out there and enjoy the weather! Well, I don't know what the hell my problem was...I haven't had a piss poor running experience like that in FOREVER! But yeah, I just COULDN'T. I tried...and failed. Miserably. Didn't even make it 2 miles, and I walked a lot of it. I felt heavy, tired, and pathetic. Definitely just a bad. running. day.)


Saturday, February 20, 2010: 8 mile run (Longest run of the season so far, and actually my longest run since last spring! I was a little nervous after my 2 previous crappy runs. So I went to weather.com and found that the warmest part of the day with the minimal amount of wind would be 12pm - 2pm that day with the high of 34 degrees and wind only 6 - 7 mph.

I chose a pretty flat trail to run on since it was a longer distance, it was "yucky" out [I'll get to that in a minute], and my earlier runs from the week had sucked ass...so I was trying to make things a little easier on myself. The trail is 7 miles total, with a 3.5 mile out & back. The first and last 2+ miles are pretty boring. It was a gray day and all the trees were bare and there wasn't much to look at other than the highway. This trail is on an elevated embankment in the middle of nowhere, really. But the last mile to the turn around point was in a wooded area and was kinda pretty.

My pace was UBER slow that day, but I didn't really mind. It was a longer distance, so that was to be expected. And it was cold and windy out, and honestly, I was just glad to be out there DOING it instead of at home on my couch. And did I mention that I had gone to a wedding the night before and drank a significant amount of wine?? Yeah.

So I got to the turn around spot at 3.5 miles, stretched for a few min, and took a Gu [Chocolate Outrage, I swear it's like crack - I LOVE IT!!!], and then headed back to where I started. I have to admit, just that little break to stretched helped tremendously. The way back was a little rough though. The wind was in my face on the way back and shortly before I hit 5 miles, I started to see little flecks of white out of the corner of my eye. Sleet. Great. I still had 2 miles to go.

My legs were also a little fatigued and stiff, so I had to start walking 1 out of every 10 minutes. I finally made it back to my car with the 7 miles on my schedule completed. Technically, I was supposed to run 7 miles the previous weekend, but only did 4 since it was -3 degrees that day. I was supposed to do 8 miles on this particular day, but felt I should do the 7 mile run first - trying to avoid injury and not take on too much too fast.

My cheeks were completely frozen and I was ready to head home. Took the Garmin off, started stretching, and suddenly I felt like I wanted to go ahead and put in that last mile. Strapped the Garmin back on and I was off. By this time, there were huge snowflakes falling and I have to tell you, it was sooooo beautiful. People in cars were staring at me like I was crazy and I was just smiling like a crazy fool because I was feeling great and totally enjoying the beautiful snow. The last mile was basically just a cool down mile, but I felt pretty awesome to have completed 8 miles that day.

The only bad thing was that I was so cold afterwards that I didn't stretch nearly enough. And when I got home, I was so ready to get out of my cold, wet clothes that I didn't use the foam roller and I didn't ice bath either since I was shivering and my teeth were chattering. Instead, I took a hot shower and LOVED every minute of it! I then dressed in head-to-toe fleece and lounged on the couch the rest of the day.

All in all, the run felt good - minimal pain, able to run most of it, not very sore the following day other than tight IT bands...need to go see Dr. Jesse at Quest Performance Center & have him fix me up.)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010: 1 hour of weights (bicepts, triceps, shoulders, back, hamstrings, abs)

Well, now I'm current on my workouts. I sure am ready for spring to get here! Our roads are covered in ice again, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about running this week. I've come to the conclusion that I'm not going to run on a treadmill anymore - I feel like it flares up my injuries and I'm just not willing to take that risk. So today will be an elliptical day...and probably every day until Saturday when I need to head out for my "long" run. I hate that it will be a week since my previous run, which was also a long run, with no short runs in between...but this weather is really becoming an obstacle. I have a feeling I'm going to have to hit up the same trail too, if I want to find something not covered in ice. So yeah, looks like a boring and cold trail run of 9 miles the morning of my birthday. Wish me luck with that one!