February Runs

[indysteel]

Ruth, that's awesome. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. It does provide encouragement. This is has been a real breakthrough year for me, and I hope I can stick with it (I often stop running come spring when temps rise).

[Crankin]

Your post inspired me, Ruth, as much as I can get inspired by running! I do like trail running better than running on pavement. We do have a neighborhood trail that is connected to conservation land trails. I walked down the road, about a quarter of a mile, ran the trail to the end and then turned around and ran until the last part, which is about a 20% grade climb for maybe another 1/3 mile, when it meets my street. The beginning of the trail has lots of logs that cover the trail in areas that often get wet, so I did have to sort of walk there, as well as slow and climb over two fallen trees across the trail. Of course, my running is slower than hell, but it was fun. I saw one other runner, a dog walker, and 2 very large ladies, who were cautiously walking down the steep climb.
It's a beautiful winter day out, I wish there was some snow!
Indy, I am jealous of your "breakthrough." I always stop running in the heat, and also because I find it just makes my body too sore for riding. Maybe I'll stick to trail running.

[indysteel]

Crankin, my breakthrough has been pretty modest I'll admit, but I'm excited that I've at least gotten to the point where I'm actually enjoying myself. Slowing down about 30 seconds per mile helped, as has working on my form. The mere fact that my hamstring doesn't hurt all the time helps, too. The heat will be a big test. Anything over 65 degrees bothers me, so we'll see.

[rocknrollgirl]

I hate the heat too. To combat the issue, I go in the morning when I can, and we have adapted our run strategy to help with the hot temps. Instead of running out and about, we have found an out and back rail trail. pretty shaded. We leave cold water and sports drink in the middle and shorten our loops so that we hit it every 2 mile or so. Pretend it is an aid station at a race. I grab a water or drink and "walk the aid station" let my heart rate come down, take a few sips and trudge on.

The same strategy could work in your neigborhood if your roads are shaded. Just make a short loop that will come past your house. It is not the most mentally stimulating thing, I just day dream of trail running in the 12 degree weather and how awesome that will be. And I let my pace adjust down a bit so that I keep my heart rate down.

[Crankin]

Yeah, my neighborhood is shaded, but it is also a 10-12% grade hill. SheFly told me she and her DH call it "Aneurysm Hill Rd," which is a slight variation on the real name... sigh.

[rocknrollgirl]

Yikes! If I had to contend with that in the heat, I would take my business elsewhere. We drive to runn all the time. We have the opposite problem, not enough hilly terrain to simulate what we are usually training for. We are lucky to have a rail train about 5 miles from home. Good parking, safe, shaded. We use that in the summer.

[indysteel]

Did another 5.5 miles today, again on the treadmill. Enough with this weather. I'm really pleased with how I ran his week! The only bummer is that I had to skip my usual yoga classes because of the weather. I'm starting to feel a little edgy because of it.

[skhill]

15F with snowy and icy sidewalks this morning, so it was the treadmill again. I started off strong, but after about 3 miles my back started tightening up. Hoped it would be a passing thing, but finally stopped at 4 miles. For some reason, spending almost 2 hours shoveling snow on Sunday did not entirely agree with my 41 yr old back!

[Anelia]

After 2 days of endurance riding, Monday was supposed to be a rest day. But my colleague wanted to use my Garmin to measure distance while running so I offered to go with him. His aim is only 3 km so we paid attention to speed. Before we started I was not sure if I could keep up with him (he is younger, tall and male) but then it turned out that I set a very good pace for him so he invited me on his next run because I kept him motivated
Here's the training

[katluvr]

Wow lots of post for so early in Feb. I, too, have been lurking but not posting. I have kept up running thru the end of Jan. Did a trail run, but overall time was slower than last year, but I do love this race. Nothing fabulous but running better steady of 3 - 4 times per week. Which is good for me to not be so sporadic. I did the easy 3+ mile loop this AM without the Garmin. I think I ended up with a pretty good pace (for me). I am still slower than I need/want to be. I also know my pace is not steady, need some time of TM to work on that. But it felt good. Last week I ran in the evening after work....UGH! My pace is super slow and I feel so heavy! I am such a morning (but after sunrise) runner.
Good work ladies!
K

[Anelia]

Today I don't have the time for riding, so another 10-mile run while I was waiting for my son to finish his chess training.

[skhill]

Finally I managed to find a good long run pace today. It's been a struggle; I've been working on speed so much it's been hard to slow down. But today's route had a lot of steep uphills in the first mile and bad visibility in the second mile, and that did the trick of slowing me down. Only had time for 7 miles (at 9:10 pace), but I felt like I could have kept going for twice the distance. It's supposed to be windy and raining in the morning, so it'll be back to the treadmill yet again. Sigh.

[rocknrollgirl]

Just got in from an 8 mile trail run. We were hoping to go longer, but the snow that fell last night made it feel like running in sand, so sometimes, it is what it is. I felt pretty good the whole time, I will take take that as a plus. Now I am ready for some breakfast. Yum!

[OakLeaf]

Well, I signed up for a half next weekend that I'd been going back and forth about. Back before I got hurt, this one was definitely in my training plan (as was Columbus half in October). Then everything went kablooie. I'm just having trouble getting it into my head that I'm going to be able to race, I'm terrified of aggravating something, I haven't been doing any speedwork at all, I've already blown off the 5Ks I usually do, and I just need to do something to reset my head. So, I'm going to do my long run as planned tomorrow, Sunday won't be a "race" race, but hopefully it will give me a better perspective on April.

[skhill]

It's a wet Monday and I feel my age today. I was planning on an easy 5 miles, but quit at 3 as I was feeling sore and achy and just couldn't loosen up. I wonder if I might be coming down with something... I did do some upper body strenght work as I was there at the gym and had some time. I really ought to do that more often!

Oak, I'm seriously considering the Columbus too, not sure about the half or whole thing. Good luck on getting through next weekend's half!