Monday, February 05, 2007

SILLY ENOUGH

Friday I ended up running two easy 5 mile runs. I thought for sure I was only going to get one in. After putting the girls to bed, I started to get comfortable in front of the TV. At 9 PM I started watching a new show and just said, “Screw it. If I’m going to watch this, I might as well be on the treadmill.” As an added bonus, if I run on the treadmill at night, I’m usually pretty good about throwing in some crunches and strength work afterwards. Now I’m not going to win any Mr. Olympia awards, but it beats “wishing” I were doing strength work.

Saturday, Jenna and Kim were silly enough to join me (or maybe I was silly enough to join them) when the windchill had to have been at least -25 degrees. We ended up running 16 miles at a hair under 7:20 pace. Given all the clothes I had on, I was surprised by the pace. At least we were smart enough to run into the wind at the start of the run – giving us a nice 8 mile stretch with the wind (mostly) at our backs. We all agreed it wasn’t that bad, but we also agreed that having company definitely helped.

That gave me 74 miles for the week on. I just can’t seem to get over the 80 mpw hump – it’s been 5 weeks now. Hopefully this cold snap will pass early this week and I can get back into that range. I need to get my long runs back to at least 18 miles too. I had two 18 milers in December and one 19 miler in January.

I started this week off with 10 miles on the treadmill while watching the second half of the Superbowl. I thought the game was entertaining, although I never really felt Chicago was really in it. As for the ads, I thought the CareerBuilder ads were the best; “Last man standing gets THE promotion.” All you Garmin owners should write a letter to the company and ask where your hard-earned dollars are going. They’re certainly NOT going to the advertising department. The guy turning into a robot and blowing up the “map monster” was the absolute worst.

Quote of the day;

“The cool wind blew in my face, and all at once, I felt as if I had shed dullness from myself.” – Burl Ives, American musician

3 comments:

  1. Nice job getting 16 miles in on Saturday. I can run on a treadmill @ work, but it must be nice to have access to one at home. I ran 8 on Saturday when it was 3 below (20 below wind chill), and 7 on Sunday at -12 (-35 WC). Today it was -22 in the morning, and schools were cancelled all over, but I already said 'NO'.

    My son had 10 boys over watching the superbowl (combination Birthday, Fantasy Football and Super Bowl party). When they heard school was cancelled, they all decided they were staying over, and it became an X-Box 360 party until 4:00 am. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. Half the boys make up the H.S. varsity CC team, and I had a nice conversation with them about base building this spring and summer for next fall's season. They have they ability to go to state if a majority of them put in the work this summer. They seemed pretty open to it, and want me to work with them during the summer, so I'm pretty excited.

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  2. I need to be better motivated about running on my treadmill. I get so easily bored. Gotta remedy that, as the temps are below zero. I did manage my long run (12+ miles) last Saturday when it was -5, but it was a bit of work!

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  3. Peter, yeah, you can't beat having a treadmill at home.

    Lisa, it helps to have a TV and fan in front of the treadmill. But still, some days on it can be a drag.

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