Survival of the Fittest

I did it! I survived the snow and big freeze of 2014!  I heard it referred to as a “Polar Vortex” or something, but I don’t watch the news, and that doesn’t mean much to me, so I just call it the 2014 Snowstorm. 😛

I started the week with a weigh-in, and all was good on that front.

 

 

Just .2 up from last week, which doesn’t worry me at all, since my goal is to stay in the 115 range.  I earned 56 activity points last week, so that probably helped!  Hopefully I can keep up the good work.

As far as marathon training goes, my normal weekly training right now is to do 3 miles, then 6 miles, then 3 miles during the week, with a long run on Saturday.  But after all the snow (we’ve had over a foot in less than a week’s time!) and with the below-zero temps forecast for this week, I decided to alter it a bit.  I ran six miles on Sunday, in the lull between storms. It was cold but not awful; running on snow is certainly better than running on ice!  After having gone to church and waited for the kids to finish Sunday school earlier in the morning, but still trying to make it to a 1:30pm hockey practice, I knew I was on a tight window to get a 6-mile snowy run in.  I was pretty focused on running, but I did stop after my half-way point turn-around to snap a quick photo of the local “canal.”

 

 

I got it done, and managed to get Daniel (son #2) to practice on-time.  Yay, me!  I was glad it got done, because doing a six-mile run on Monday or Tuesday would have been unpleasant.

 

 

Yes, that’s right, it got to -13 at my house.  That’s from my weather station, so you know it’s for real!  That particular reading was Monday night/Tuesday morning’s low.  Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was a balmy -6.4.  Since I try to do my runs before work in the morning…yeah, that wasn’t too ideal.  I ran 3 miles on Monday morning when it was it was still about 12 degrees above freezing. I didn’t run again until Wednesday evening, when I ran 3 miles when it was once again about 12 degrees.  It’s amazing to think that I considered 12 degrees “warm enough” to run, lol!!

With those runs, I was able to take a running break for a few days until it warmed up, but I did get my two weight-training workouts in this week in the cold, cold barn. I somehow managed to do 30 minutes of weight training on Sunday after running six miles in the snow, and then, on Thursday, I did another 30 minutes of weight training before Jamie’s 7pm game.  Did I mention it was  32 degrees on Sunday and 22 degrees on Thursday??  My fingers were numb, but I got it done!!  As I told my husband when I got to the game…I really do enjoy the weight training, but the fact that I’m always doing it when I’m pressed for time AND when it’s freezing cold is what makes it unpleasant.

Today was my long run.  I had to run 12 miles, but Daniel also had a game at 8am in Plymouth, which is about 40 minutes from our house.  And we need to be there by 7:15 to get him ready. Ugh.  The game was actually really exciting, with our boys coming back from 2 goals down at the beginning of the third to tie it with just 30 second left, so that was fun.  But then, I still had to run 12 miles.  I’d planned ahead, though.  I brought my running gear with me, and I had my husband drop me off 12 miles from our house, and I literally RAN HOME from there.  My husband was actually pretty impressed with my accomplishment.  So was I, to be honest. 😉

It wasn’t easy, let me tell you.  First off, it was raining, and if you don’t know by now, I hate running in the rain. :/  I did it, though, but when I was on the main road, I got hit over and over again with sprays of water and dirt by the big semi-trucks.  I was Not Happy.

In addition to the rain, I had to deal with the footing.  The temp was up to 43 by this time, which fooled me into thinking the ice and snow would’ve melted but…not quite.  On the main roads, yes.  But on the secondary roads, which are less-travelled and therefore the pavement isn’t as warm, it was still pretty dicey.  The last half-mile back to my house, on our very-untraveled road, was especially rough.

 

 

All in all, I did pretty well, though, with just two stops to catch my breath and have some water.  (I ran straight into 15 mph winds for miles 8 and 9, and that just about did me in!)  Once I was done, I was damn proud of myself.

 

 

To smile after running 12 miles in the ice and wind is pretty impressive, I think. 😉

So that was my week!  I’m currently relaxing on the couch after my 12-mile run, after enjoying some wine and now feeling full my husband’s dinner, but I will leave you with some shots of our snowstorm this week.  I do love pretty pictures, as you know!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!!