Running in December - 12/01 to 12/15

[7rider]

Did a 4 mile jog this a.m. - leaving the house at 6:15. Pitch black at the start. Wore a headlight, as my route took me down some dark cul-de-sacs in my neighborhood. It was weird to have the light on my hat at my forehead. I kept thinking "Wow....what a bright full moon we have. Wait. Wasn't the full moon last week?" Then I realized that the light of the "full moon" was really the headlight! D'oh!!

I could see I was definitely visible to my early car-commuting neighbors (wore my high-vis day-glow and reflective Carhartt work vest, too), as most gave me PLENTY of room. But the idiots who treat narrow residential streets as their personal race track are STILL going to be idiots who speed down residential streets regardless to what is going on around them and who is there and what they are wearing or flashing at them.

[Susan]

Christmas feelings on my 5k covered in deep snow yesterday

[kacie tri-ing]

6 slow and easy last night.

50K is in 8 days!

[GLC1968]

Did my first run for Dec last night - on the treadmill. 4 miles closer to my 100 mile goal (by Jan 8th). I'm at 19/100 so far.

Discovered two things:

1) running on the treadmill with a DVD playing is less boring than running with headphones because I get visual stimulation as well

2) our treadmill is calibrated incorrectly! I've been doing so much running outside that I've gotten really good at telling what RPE gives me what overall pace. As soon as I got on the treadmill last night, it was obviously off. It said it was moving at a 5.0 mph pace, but it FELT much closer to a 5.8 or so. I think the belt moves too fast (the speed of it does shift periodically during a run). Ah well - it is still better than running on busy country roads in the dark anyway. I won't die from a 'too fast' treadmill.

You know...now that I type this, I think I might try a couple more outside runs and then an indoor run on a treadmill at my gym. We'll see if my RPE is as accurate as I think it is (assuming the gym treadmills are correct)!

[indigoiis]

Ran a nice fast 3.12 out and back from the house with a couple of big hills. I felt like pushing and it paid off. I'm trying to punch through the top of my comfort level. When I go up the hills I think "little devil feet" and for some reason, it makes me pick up my feet. I visualize a little goat. 28 mins. total which is something like 9:12 mms so I am happy - consistent improvement. Tomorrow is my long run. I think we'll do the same 10 we did last weekend.

[skhill]

Friday was my long run-- well, not really all that long, just 9 mile. It was "freezing fog" at the time, and while the footing on the sidewalks was pretty solid, the streets were very slick. Every time I got to an intersection, I had to way slow down and step carefully. Exhausting...

Today, I wasn't planning on running. But my dog insisted at 5 am that we really, really had to get up right then. Since I was up, I ended up running anyway. We'd gotten less than an inch of snow overnight, but sidewalks and street were clear, and it was absolutely beautiful. Ran a relaxed 5 miles, and enjoyed the christmas lights downtown. But right after I got home, it started snowing again, and when I took the Pokey dog out for his walk an hour later, everything was covered-- streets, sidewalks, and all. First real snow of the year-- hooray!

[kacie tri-ing]

So I did my last long run. 20 miles on the trails saturday. I felt fantastic. Seriously, I felt amazing. I am off to get massage, chiro, a few workouts, obsessively watching the weather, and tweaking my diet this week for the 50K on saturday!

[colby]

1) running on the treadmill with a DVD playing is less boring than running with headphones because I get visual stimulation as well

I have the same experience on the trainer - it makes a big difference.

[GLC1968]

I have the same experience on the trainer - it makes a big difference.

Good to know since our trainer just got moved down to the basement right next to the treadmill!

Did 4.5 miles with my husband today. He was really hurting from the get-go. I was really pulling out some of my best 'motivational coach' work to keep him going! He had to walk twice, so I stuck with him. I kept telling myself that it's about the miles, not the speed right now so it didn't matter. I felt really good though - could have done it much faster if I'd been alone (or gone much further).

[indigoiis]

Ran ten today and felt great. Everything clicked - I wasn't overdressed, nothing was uncomfortable, I took the hills easy and tried to enjoy it. 9:24 mm - running with DH these days has been confidence-building for me (I used to get so frustrated that he is faster than me, now I don't really care. He runs during the week without me and can go as fast as he likes. Long runs are at my pace!)