January Thaw... 1/8 through 1/14 runs!

[Kimmyt]

It's been warm here recently. Really warm. I wore a tank top and shorts yesterday, and with the high predicted today of 70 I figured the morning temps would be around 45. Got all dressed and went out with the group at 5am only to find it was much colder, thanks to a low-lying blanket of cold damp fog. 38 degrees and me with only minimal layers on.

Thankfully, we did 6.2 miles of hills, so I got warmed up quickly.

Lets hear what everyone's up to this week, ladies!

[rant]On a side note, I have a bit of a rant on age-ism, but the reverse kind. As I was struggling up a hill past one of the other ladies, I heard her call me 'the young kid' in a somewhat snarky tone of voice. Yeah, I'm the youngest one in the group (I always feel that way) but sometimes I get really upset when people call me a baby, or when I finally manage to do okay at something, they say 'oh thats cause your so young'. I felt really bad the rest of the run because I felt like I was making the other women feel insecure about their age, and I had no intention! Just that women my age don't usually care about running at 5am and so i'm often hanging out with ladies that are older than I am.
Now I'm torn if they like me and if I should even bother continue running with them... I hate to make them and myself feel bad, and it's not like I'm even any faster than them! [/rant]

[OakLeaf]

[rant]On a side note, I have a bit of a rant on age-ism, but the reverse kind. As I was struggling up a hill past one of the other ladies, I heard her call me 'the young kid' in a somewhat snarky tone of voice. Yeah, I'm the youngest one in the group (I always feel that way) but sometimes I get really upset when people call me a baby, or when I finally manage to do okay at something, they say 'oh thats cause your so young'. [/rant]

I am SO with you on that! I'm 48 and just starting to really feel old, and I HATE it when people attribute what strength and endurance I have, solely to being "young"!

ETA: the subtext I think is that I'm terrified they're right... that if I'm training 1 to 3 hours every single day now, and I'm okay if not thrilled with how I feel, then in 10-20 years I will have to be training 4-6 hours every single day just to keep my head above water. Please let that not be true.

[Grog]

Yeah, cold morning here too today - 1 C!

And wet.

With some slushy snow on the ground.

It took me a while to muster sufficient courage, but I eventually went out for a mere 20 minutes. I was out there. Check.

[tattiefritter]

Ran on Monday, scheduled to do 6 miles on Monday lunchtime: 2 mile warmup, 2 miles of fartleks then a 2 mile cool down. It was stupidly windy but I headed out anyway, the exact second I broke into a run it started to rain heavily, then it hailed, then it changed back to rain again all in the first mile. I kept going down to the sea front but there was absolutely no way I could run along there as the wind was so strong and the rain so heavy I couldn't actually see. I retreated to a parallel street for a smidge of shelter, still windy/rainy but I could at least see. Normally the frequent road junctions would annoy me but I used them to my advantage for the fartleks by sprinting between one set and recovering between the next, after a mile and a half of this straight into the wind (added an extra dimension of difficulty) I turned round and got blown back for another half mile before "cool down" (too cold to slow down much). I did 6.25 miles and squelched back into the office with a massive grin, then spent 10 minutes trying to warm up in the shower. Think my mojo may actually be returning last month I would've turned tail after about a mile.

Weather is rubbish here, really windy, rainy, hailing with a hint of sleet. I couldn't ride to work yesterday and looks like we won't be going out night riding tonight. May go out for a three miler tonight if not riding to get blown around then do some core training.

[nonsmoker3]

Three painful and pitiful miles. Scheduled for 4, but just wasn't feeling it this morning. Too bad, since it was nearly 70 outside and I had shorts and a T-shirt on at 0500. Wish I could have taken advantage of the great weather.

[teigyr]

Five miles No walking AND I my average was under 10 minutes per mile. Oddly enough, I felt better on this run than on my normal 2.5-3.5 mile runs. It was very nice.

Re age-ism, it's silly. I know that some things are slightly easier the younger you are but the most important thing is dedication and training. Some of the best endurance athletes I've been around have been older. The only thing I don't appreciate about age is just that it feels like it takes me so freakin' long to recover sometimes!!!

[OakLeaf]

Simulated 5K today, total of 4.9 miles with warmup and cool-down. I held just over a 9 minute pace for my race distance. Was hoping for better, but I can live with that and maybe do a little better come race day. I'm figuring on two more interval days before that.

[Wahine]

A little over six miles for me in the slush and relative cold. I had a blast wet tights, shoes and all.

[DirtDiva]

Haha. I'm not doing so well sticking to my target of running 2-3 times a week. Only went once last week, and will likely only get out once this week, then I'm away next week and may or may not take the running shoes with me... Should be easier to stick to a routine after that though as I'll be back at work then.

[Grog]

It's pouring rain (again), pitch-black dark (for another half-hour) and I am going out for an hour.

That's a crazy sport.

I have a nice clip-on white LED now but I need one for my back too.

I'll finish my run on the beach so it's a happy finish.

Ok, will report.

(I seem to be using this thread for accountability purposes.)

[Kimmyt]

Accountibility is good, Grog! Half the times I think I only do workouts so I can log them in my BT account. It keeps me motivated.

Took the morning off running, the girls were doing an 8 mile run and I was feeling some slight twinges from the hill run on Tuesday. I'll make a trip to the gym today and test out my new shoes on the treadmill.

Signed up for 2 trail runs over the winter. 7.25 and 9 miles. I'm excited because they seem like really fun races. Plus it's something to do in the cold rainy winter (I feel like I've forgotten what snow is, in the mid-atlantic these past few years....)

[limewave]

I didn't have too much time this morning so I did a 1 mile warm-up. Followed by 10 spring hill repeats. And then a 1-mile cool down. Man, did I feel energized after that!

[HillSlugger]

The weather here has been crazy. On Friday it was 18 so I ran inside on a treadmill. Tuesday it was 49. This morning it was 38. Anyhow, I ran 2.6 miles on Tuesday and 2.7 miles today. Still working to get my running back up to 5k.

Can anyone tell me how I should be using the heart rate data I'm getting from my Garmin?

[limewave]

I get ribbed all the time at Running Club. It drives me nutty. I'm 29 and everyone else is 45+. If I have any successes, it's because I'm young and not because I worked for it. Or, they assume that I've been working out my entire life (I just started exercising 5 years ago) whereas they all started as adults (20 years ago).

I'm tired of hearing them complain about it. All of their kids are grown and in college. They are established and have all the time in the world to dedicate to working out. They don't have to find a babysitter or push a 40 lb baby jogger every time they want to do something. I have a 2 year old, 3 cats, work full time, take 2 night classes, my husband is absent 6 out of 7 days a week, I have hypothyroid, and 3 screws in each foot. I work Darn hard for every little success. It sure doesn't come easy to me. And if it only gets harder, then I'm in serious trouble.

[Grog]

I LOVE hill reps. They leave me energized, too. Good for you, Limewave!

I did go out this morning, although it was not especially pleasant. The beach bits were the worst because there were big puddles everywhere, although since I was overdressed and too warm I didn't mind getting my feet wet.

Silly as it sounds, I need to practice running downhill. There is a half-marathon coming with more downhill than up, which for me is a bad news because I can pass most people on the way up... but get passed by everyone on the way down. That will be my goal for the next month.