By Linda

(Cross-posted at the group NOLA 2010 training blog. At the end of each training week, I’m gathering the ongoing entries I publish over there and including them in one post here.)

Dec 9 / 12:39pm: Tuesday (FREEZING) 4-miler

Yesterday it was about 20° outside when I managed to work up the gumption to go for a run. I put on an extra shirt (three total: a sleeveless tank, a long-sleeved Under Armor, and a wicking t-shirt over that), a ridiculous Mickey-Mouse-sized pair of ski gloves, a thicker pair of socks than I normally wear, and hoped for the best.

For three solid miles I was completely uncomfortable. Not freezing on the outside, exactly—after a few minutes of pavement-pounding my core didn’t feel as chilled as it did when I first started out—but my legs felt way too stiff and my left ankle ached to the point where I was almost limping. I kept wondering if I was jogging myself into an actual injury or what, but I gambled on keeping going and eventually my ankle stopped hurting altogether. But other things sucked: my nose was running nonstop, my mouth and nose hurt from breathing frigid air, and my hands eventually got TOO warm inside the gloves and started sweating.

Out of the spectrum of great runs, okay runs, and downright crappy runs, this one fell solidly into the Miserably Unpleasant category. I don’t know if my ankle was complaining because of a recent gym workout that involved a fair amount of stability work (lots of balancing on one of those rubber things that’s shaped like half a ball), or if the cold weather kept my muscles stiff, or if it was something to do with my socks, or WHAT, but between the discomfort of that and the frigid dry air, man, I couldn’t wait for it to be over with.

I’m guessing running in freezing weather requires some getting used to, and maybe some different gear than what I’ve been using. These kinds of temperatures are unusual for Seattle, and hopefully I won’t have to adjust for much longer. Although the forecast calls for a chilly weekend, so I’ll definitely have to suck it up for my long run. (WAH.)

Mileage: 4.39
Pace: 10:18

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Dec 13 / 1:38pm: Saturday 9-miler

I totally wimped out on going running Thursday morning because of the freezing cold, so opted for an evening kickboxing class to help make up for it. I enjoyed it, but came to regret my choice during my regular gym appointment on Friday when our trainer put us through a repetitive series of strength moves—my butt, legs, and arms all registered unhappy complaints about back-to-back taxing workouts.

I felt pretty sore on Saturday, and not particularly ready for my long run— but I really didn’t want to wait until Sunday either, because I always worry that if I don’t get it over and done with, forces will conspire against me and I won’t find the time later in the weekend. Plus, we had a babysitter lined up for Saturday night, and I wanted to completely relax, knowing that Sunday was a rest day.

Once my husband got home from his workout in the afternoon, I got my gear together and drove to nearby Marymoor Park to run on the Sammamish River Trail (which Dawn mentioned in this post). I’ve been planning to do that trail once my runs got long enough, because it’s flat and requires zero route-planning.

I figured I’d go for at least six miles, but I felt strong enough on the way out that I kept past the 3 mile mark. I passed four miles still feeling okay, if increasingly thirsty, and thought oh, what the heck. What’s another half a mile?

Perhaps some of you who are smarter than me have figured out the flaw in my thinking. You know, the fact that 4.5 x 2 = NINE.

Around the six-mile mark on the way back I started slowing down, and by seven miles I felt like my legs were dragging through molasses. They didn’t hurt, exactly, they just felt more and more leaden and weak. I was really, really thirsty—probably from breathing cold dry air with my mouth open—and I had no water. At one point I saw a drinking fountain and leaped on it, but of course nothing came out. Off for the season, probably, or maybe just frozen.

Mentally this was a very different sort of course to run for me, I’m used to hills and curves in the road and this trail has many long straight stretches where you see exactly how far you need to go just to get to the next straightaway. It was a little disheartening, and I spent a lot of time focused on the pavement in front of me. The other thing that was kind of hard was how the trail was highest in the center, so I felt like I ran the whole time on a slight incline to the right (since I was on the far right of the trail, allowing for cyclists to pass me on the left). It would have been nice to switch up the terrain a little, but I suppose that’s what this kind of training is all about.

The last mile and a half was pure torture. At that point the sun—which had been shining on me during the way out and was warm enough to make me regret the extra shirt layer I’d put on—had dipped below the trees and my hands got miserably cold beneath my thin gloves. My right hand in particular became an immobile claw and throbbed so painfully it beat my running-on-empty legs and my dry mouth in terms of total discomfort. I wasn’t even hearing anything on my iPod, I was just thinking of this quote from Dean Karnazes: “Run if you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must.” I wasn’t walking or crawling yet, but I was damn close.

Finally, FINALLY, I got all the way back to my car, where I had (thank god) a water bottle and a Clif bar, and I turned on my seat warmer and just sat on my hands until they worked well enough to grip the steering wheel. I peeled off my watch and double-checked the numbers: just over nine miles. And hour and a half of nonstop running. Holy crap.

Mileage: 9.08
Pace: 10:40

That distance is well ahead of my training schedule, and I realize I shouldn’t push it too much. Next time I do this trail, I’ll set a goal before my feet hit the pavement, because unlike running around my neighborhood, there’s no doubling back early if I need to. I also need to get a fuel belt and start bringing water, and hell, it might be a good idea to try and time my long runs so I’m not doing them on sore, over-worked legs. Oh, and if we get more freezing cold weather, I definitely need some better gloves.

All in all, this was the hardest run I’ve done. I was drained and exhausted afterwards, and it wasn’t until a few hours later that I started feeling human again. Today, though, a full 24 hours later, I feel sore but awesome. Nine miles! I don’t even know what to say that I haven’t said a thousand times before, so I’ll just say this: I am amazed at what I’m becoming capable of.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Blogs, Body Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.