Monday 2/1
When I make the decision to sleep I and run later I always know that it will be a poor choice. So why do I do it? Ugh!
It was really hard to force myself out the door. The wind was freaking ridiculous. Like the kind of wind that made me irrationally angry. I tried running one of my favorite routes on some trail and around a small lake. But I was in a bad mood the whole time. You know people say you will never regret a run? That might be true. I didn’t regret this run. You know how people say a run will improve your mood? False. I was cranky the whole time. I felt a little proud of myself for getting it done, but I wouldn’t say that my mood was improved. I was relieved to get goal mileage for the day done. I was able to run in shorts which is much welcome change. While I have gotten used to running in leggings, I still don’t like them.
What I did learn from today is that if I am going to run in the afternoon, I should take my stuff with me and run from the college. I can access a pedestrian path and trail from campus. That’s a lot better than dealing with the traffic the mile it takes me to get to the campus where I can access those two running options.
Tuesday 2/2
Wind sucky, temperature awesome. I did get to wear shorts so that was a plus. The slower pace due to fighting the winds meant that I didn’t get as many miles done as I wanted but 12 miles was a decent run for the day. I now bad weather is coming so despite the wind I just tried to focus on enjoying the 40 degree temps.
Wednesday 2/3
Third day in a row running in shorts! I didn’t even wear my jacket today. When I wasn’t running into the wind it was perfect! But the wind could be a nightmare when it gusted.
I took my rent to my landlord and told him we needed to talk about renewing my lease (it’s up at the end of May). I knew was going to be renewing but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud, until today. That was only because I felt like I needed to let him know. I felt sad after I said it. I miss my family and I miss my dogs. But for the next school year it is just going to be me here, so I’ll stay in the apartment. Don’t get me wrong, this apartment is really nice, and I love living here. I just wish I was in a house with a yard, with my husband, and with my dogs.
Thursday 2/4
I had this horrible dream that Norm and I had broken up and I was sad in my dream that as I was waking up, I struggled to get rid of that sad feeling. It was 3:45am and tried to fall back asleep, but I couldn’t. So, I got up and had coffee. This meant that I was able get running earlier than planned. Glass half full. I got 13 miles done.
Friday 2/5
The good news about not sleeping well is that I am up early and can get out the door to run. I teach at 8am on MWF so being out the door by five meant that I could get in more miles than normal. With calm winds for Casper and decent temps (in the 30’s) I was happy to get 10 miles done and have plenty of time to get to work. I ran through campus more than I usually do and I am definitely adding this to my early morning running. Campus is pretty big and the lighting is good so I can get 2 to 3 miles done just by running around campus. I was shocked to see much activity so early on the morning. Staff and students were out and about. What is everyone doing? I debated trying to get in a couple more miles knowing that the weather is going to be colder and snowy this weekend, but decided I didn’t want to cut it too close to get to class. But it was a blissful morning of running.
Saturday 2/4
When I know it is meant to snow during the night I am like a little kid. When I wake up in the middle night, I always go to the window to check for snow. I thought I was going to be so happy to be running because I love running in the snow. I didn’t check to the temperature so I had no I did that it was single temps but felt like below zero. So much for a long run because it was a struggle to get to 10 miles.
In the afternoon I headed to the running store in town. Lucky for me it’s right across the street my apartment so I didn’t have to deal with the snow too much. . I told them I needed some help because I was coming from Phoenix and needed gear to run in the zero degree temps were are facing this week. As I explained the people at the store, I will not run on a treadmill. I will deal with whatever is happening outside so I need the right gear. I bought the warmest gloves the Dakine makes. They cost me the low, low price of $70. The people helping me explained that it’s better to put the handwarmer on top of my hand instead inside my palm. They have a pocket to put my I also got a face covering. I look like a bank robber. The one thing they didn’t have is Kahtoola nanospikes. The did have the screws that you can buy to put in your shoes yourself, but I would rather have the nanospikes so I can slip them off and on. So, they are now on order from Amazon prime. While I much prefer to shop local, sometimes I can’t get things here and sometimes I don’t want to wait a week for something to be delivered.
Sunday 2/5
Ready with new gear I headed out into the negative temps. Snow had just started falling again when I got up to make coffee. I was hoping it would pick up because that would the slick spots would be covered with the less slick crunchy snow. When I first headed out I wasn’t sure how far I would actually get because the of the slick spots. It was just tough downtown but better when I got to the pedestrian path. Not because of the path, but because I could run in the grass next to path. At about 2.5 miles the path switches to dirt and gravel. Much better for running in the snow. Things were going great until they weren’t. All of the sudden I started feeling like I was going to pass out, like something was wrong with me. I pretty quickly realized that I was having a panic attack. My guess was that my breathing was wonky because of the face mask. I pulled the face mask off of my nose and mouth and I felt better instantly. My hands were perfectly warm until I needed to pee. In order to pull my pants down I had to take my mittens off. My hands are of no use with the mittens on. But once the mittens were off my hand got cold, despite still having gloves on. Once I put the gloves back on my hands wouldn’t warm up. I ended up having to take the hand warmers out of the pocket and shoving them deep inside the mittens. That helped my fingers warm up. But my face was becoming a situation. My cheeks had gotten cold after I pulled down my face covering. I pulled it back up but because it had gotten wet from my breathing it had also frozen into a hard crusty shell. I got it pulled back up but I wasn’t sure if it was helping or not. It was wet from my breath and that was making my nose cold. Like painful cold. But my cheeks and chin were warmer. There was also snot running down my face that I couldn’t do anything about. Gross.
Normally I post a week at a time, but there is much to say about the week that followed. I knew that I wasn’t going to get much running done because the temps were going deep into the negatives once you accounted for wind chill.
Monday 2/8
I got up and left for a run. It was miserable. It was so cold out that my watch wasn’t working correctly. I never went far from my house because I was struggle to deal with the cold. My body and hands were okay, but my legs were cold through my tights and my face was painfully cold. My best guess is that I got 4 miles done.
Tuesday 2/9
I didn’t run, thinking maybe I would be able to get a run in after work. I did get up and do weights and plyo because I was up so early. I normally would be up to run so my body just naturally woke up. I did not run in the afternoon. No surprising. It’s always hard for me to get out in the afternoon. I do have a gym membership. I could have gone to the gym and done some running, but I didn’t. I hate the treadmill so much.
Wednesday 2/10
When I left work it was sunny out so it was easier to get myself out the door. And the first few miles were great. I actually was getting too warm and regretted all the layers. That wouldn’t last. I was able to unzip my jackets a bit and that helped cool me down. The wind is really light, maybe 10mph, but as soon as I turned and was running into the wind I no longer regretted the layers. My face was going numb and I had snot running down my face, but my lobster claw gloves make it hard to wipe my nose. Now the snot is making my face wet and that makes it even more painfully cold. But I manage to get 7 miles done and I feel really good about it. But the really cold weather is still to come.
Thursday 2/11
Zip, nada, nothing. No excuse. Did I mention I am paying for a gym membership that I am not using?
Friday 2/12
With the wind chill it is negative 30 out. It’s so cold that after I take a shower the inside of the window in my bedroom is covered in ice. It has been snowing of and on for days, but the roads were still okay when I drove to work. I was determined to make myself go to the gym to use the treadmill after work since I leave work around 11am on Friday. It really starts coming down sometime mid-morning. I can hear the snow plows clearing the roads on campus and the smaller plows clearing the sidewalk outside my window. Reading the daily newsletter I get from the local news I see an announcement that states that the roads are slick because whatever it is we put down on the roads doesn’t work when it is this cold out. I only have a mile to drive home and I seriously wanted to leave my car on the side of the road and walk home. In just a few blocks from leaving my car had started sliding twice when I needed to stop for a red light. It was the longest mile of my life. I was so nervous that my legs started shaking. Thank G-d no one was ever around me because I was driving so slow they would have been totally annoyed. Definitely not going to the gym.
Saturday 2/13
Up at 4:15am with a headache. I took some Advil and tried to go back to sleep with no luck. At 4:45am I gave up on sleep and got up for coffee. I think not exercising in affecting my mood so I ran up and down the stairs. I did it for ten minutes at a time and then would stop for 3 minutes of weights. I turned my watch on to get an idea of mileage and elevation. Not sure how accurate it is, but at least it gave me an idea. In a little over an hour, I got 5 miles. My pace is recorded at 13:17/mile and 1358 feet of climbing. I’ll take it. Then I did another 20 minutes of weights when I finished. At this point this week isn’t going to do anything to contribute to my training, but for my mental health I need to work out. I also doubt I am going to be able to afford to go to my planned 50 mile race at the end of April because it is costing me so much to go home for spring break.
Sunday 2/14
My calves are sore from the stair running the day before so I decide to do a cardio workout. I did a combination of weights and plyo knowing that tomorrow the temps will be in the high 20’s and I can finally get back outside.
When I make the decision to sleep I and run later I always know that it will be a poor choice. So why do I do it? Ugh!
It was really hard to force myself out the door. The wind was freaking ridiculous. Like the kind of wind that made me irrationally angry. I tried running one of my favorite routes on some trail and around a small lake. But I was in a bad mood the whole time. You know people say you will never regret a run? That might be true. I didn’t regret this run. You know how people say a run will improve your mood? False. I was cranky the whole time. I felt a little proud of myself for getting it done, but I wouldn’t say that my mood was improved. I was relieved to get goal mileage for the day done. I was able to run in shorts which is much welcome change. While I have gotten used to running in leggings, I still don’t like them.
What I did learn from today is that if I am going to run in the afternoon, I should take my stuff with me and run from the college. I can access a pedestrian path and trail from campus. That’s a lot better than dealing with the traffic the mile it takes me to get to the campus where I can access those two running options.
Tuesday 2/2
Wind sucky, temperature awesome. I did get to wear shorts so that was a plus. The slower pace due to fighting the winds meant that I didn’t get as many miles done as I wanted but 12 miles was a decent run for the day. I now bad weather is coming so despite the wind I just tried to focus on enjoying the 40 degree temps.
Wednesday 2/3
Third day in a row running in shorts! I didn’t even wear my jacket today. When I wasn’t running into the wind it was perfect! But the wind could be a nightmare when it gusted.
I took my rent to my landlord and told him we needed to talk about renewing my lease (it’s up at the end of May). I knew was going to be renewing but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud, until today. That was only because I felt like I needed to let him know. I felt sad after I said it. I miss my family and I miss my dogs. But for the next school year it is just going to be me here, so I’ll stay in the apartment. Don’t get me wrong, this apartment is really nice, and I love living here. I just wish I was in a house with a yard, with my husband, and with my dogs.
Thursday 2/4
I had this horrible dream that Norm and I had broken up and I was sad in my dream that as I was waking up, I struggled to get rid of that sad feeling. It was 3:45am and tried to fall back asleep, but I couldn’t. So, I got up and had coffee. This meant that I was able get running earlier than planned. Glass half full. I got 13 miles done.
Friday 2/5
The good news about not sleeping well is that I am up early and can get out the door to run. I teach at 8am on MWF so being out the door by five meant that I could get in more miles than normal. With calm winds for Casper and decent temps (in the 30’s) I was happy to get 10 miles done and have plenty of time to get to work. I ran through campus more than I usually do and I am definitely adding this to my early morning running. Campus is pretty big and the lighting is good so I can get 2 to 3 miles done just by running around campus. I was shocked to see much activity so early on the morning. Staff and students were out and about. What is everyone doing? I debated trying to get in a couple more miles knowing that the weather is going to be colder and snowy this weekend, but decided I didn’t want to cut it too close to get to class. But it was a blissful morning of running.
Saturday 2/4
When I know it is meant to snow during the night I am like a little kid. When I wake up in the middle night, I always go to the window to check for snow. I thought I was going to be so happy to be running because I love running in the snow. I didn’t check to the temperature so I had no I did that it was single temps but felt like below zero. So much for a long run because it was a struggle to get to 10 miles.
In the afternoon I headed to the running store in town. Lucky for me it’s right across the street my apartment so I didn’t have to deal with the snow too much. . I told them I needed some help because I was coming from Phoenix and needed gear to run in the zero degree temps were are facing this week. As I explained the people at the store, I will not run on a treadmill. I will deal with whatever is happening outside so I need the right gear. I bought the warmest gloves the Dakine makes. They cost me the low, low price of $70. The people helping me explained that it’s better to put the handwarmer on top of my hand instead inside my palm. They have a pocket to put my I also got a face covering. I look like a bank robber. The one thing they didn’t have is Kahtoola nanospikes. The did have the screws that you can buy to put in your shoes yourself, but I would rather have the nanospikes so I can slip them off and on. So, they are now on order from Amazon prime. While I much prefer to shop local, sometimes I can’t get things here and sometimes I don’t want to wait a week for something to be delivered.
Sunday 2/5
Ready with new gear I headed out into the negative temps. Snow had just started falling again when I got up to make coffee. I was hoping it would pick up because that would the slick spots would be covered with the less slick crunchy snow. When I first headed out I wasn’t sure how far I would actually get because the of the slick spots. It was just tough downtown but better when I got to the pedestrian path. Not because of the path, but because I could run in the grass next to path. At about 2.5 miles the path switches to dirt and gravel. Much better for running in the snow. Things were going great until they weren’t. All of the sudden I started feeling like I was going to pass out, like something was wrong with me. I pretty quickly realized that I was having a panic attack. My guess was that my breathing was wonky because of the face mask. I pulled the face mask off of my nose and mouth and I felt better instantly. My hands were perfectly warm until I needed to pee. In order to pull my pants down I had to take my mittens off. My hands are of no use with the mittens on. But once the mittens were off my hand got cold, despite still having gloves on. Once I put the gloves back on my hands wouldn’t warm up. I ended up having to take the hand warmers out of the pocket and shoving them deep inside the mittens. That helped my fingers warm up. But my face was becoming a situation. My cheeks had gotten cold after I pulled down my face covering. I pulled it back up but because it had gotten wet from my breathing it had also frozen into a hard crusty shell. I got it pulled back up but I wasn’t sure if it was helping or not. It was wet from my breath and that was making my nose cold. Like painful cold. But my cheeks and chin were warmer. There was also snot running down my face that I couldn’t do anything about. Gross.
Normally I post a week at a time, but there is much to say about the week that followed. I knew that I wasn’t going to get much running done because the temps were going deep into the negatives once you accounted for wind chill.
Monday 2/8
I got up and left for a run. It was miserable. It was so cold out that my watch wasn’t working correctly. I never went far from my house because I was struggle to deal with the cold. My body and hands were okay, but my legs were cold through my tights and my face was painfully cold. My best guess is that I got 4 miles done.
Tuesday 2/9
I didn’t run, thinking maybe I would be able to get a run in after work. I did get up and do weights and plyo because I was up so early. I normally would be up to run so my body just naturally woke up. I did not run in the afternoon. No surprising. It’s always hard for me to get out in the afternoon. I do have a gym membership. I could have gone to the gym and done some running, but I didn’t. I hate the treadmill so much.
Wednesday 2/10
When I left work it was sunny out so it was easier to get myself out the door. And the first few miles were great. I actually was getting too warm and regretted all the layers. That wouldn’t last. I was able to unzip my jackets a bit and that helped cool me down. The wind is really light, maybe 10mph, but as soon as I turned and was running into the wind I no longer regretted the layers. My face was going numb and I had snot running down my face, but my lobster claw gloves make it hard to wipe my nose. Now the snot is making my face wet and that makes it even more painfully cold. But I manage to get 7 miles done and I feel really good about it. But the really cold weather is still to come.
Thursday 2/11
Zip, nada, nothing. No excuse. Did I mention I am paying for a gym membership that I am not using?
Friday 2/12
With the wind chill it is negative 30 out. It’s so cold that after I take a shower the inside of the window in my bedroom is covered in ice. It has been snowing of and on for days, but the roads were still okay when I drove to work. I was determined to make myself go to the gym to use the treadmill after work since I leave work around 11am on Friday. It really starts coming down sometime mid-morning. I can hear the snow plows clearing the roads on campus and the smaller plows clearing the sidewalk outside my window. Reading the daily newsletter I get from the local news I see an announcement that states that the roads are slick because whatever it is we put down on the roads doesn’t work when it is this cold out. I only have a mile to drive home and I seriously wanted to leave my car on the side of the road and walk home. In just a few blocks from leaving my car had started sliding twice when I needed to stop for a red light. It was the longest mile of my life. I was so nervous that my legs started shaking. Thank G-d no one was ever around me because I was driving so slow they would have been totally annoyed. Definitely not going to the gym.
Saturday 2/13
Up at 4:15am with a headache. I took some Advil and tried to go back to sleep with no luck. At 4:45am I gave up on sleep and got up for coffee. I think not exercising in affecting my mood so I ran up and down the stairs. I did it for ten minutes at a time and then would stop for 3 minutes of weights. I turned my watch on to get an idea of mileage and elevation. Not sure how accurate it is, but at least it gave me an idea. In a little over an hour, I got 5 miles. My pace is recorded at 13:17/mile and 1358 feet of climbing. I’ll take it. Then I did another 20 minutes of weights when I finished. At this point this week isn’t going to do anything to contribute to my training, but for my mental health I need to work out. I also doubt I am going to be able to afford to go to my planned 50 mile race at the end of April because it is costing me so much to go home for spring break.
Sunday 2/14
My calves are sore from the stair running the day before so I decide to do a cardio workout. I did a combination of weights and plyo knowing that tomorrow the temps will be in the high 20’s and I can finally get back outside.
It's so cold out that there is ice on the inside of my windows.
