The sudden dip in temps this past week has caught me off guard. In the past few years, I've embraced the cold weather and have even preferred it to the humid, warmer days of late fall. However, I think now that I've been forced to run in muggy, warmer conditions, I've kind of gotten used to it and the frosty mornings have been a shock to the system. It's actually ok if the run is just a few miles, but yesterday, I had my last long run of this block and I started early as usual and ended up running for about 3.5 hours. I forgot how the cold can really affect my body. I started off with hill repeats on Washington. My goal was to actually just do hills for the entire run, but I just didn't have to time to drive out to Baldpate with a lot planned out for the bulk of the day with the kiddos. So, 5 hill repeats on Washington would have to do. Initially, I thought my body was handling the cold weather fine. I was wearing a t-shirt, a long sleeved shirt and my Houdini jacket with light tights. My hands were warm- gloves inside of ski mittens and I also had my wooly hat on. However, because of the cold, I was not hydrating/fueling well. I had a bottle of Tailwind, but I wasn't drinking enough. After 5 repeats, I had only taken a few sips. I ended up running another hour in the Riverside neighborhood. I thought at 7 miles, I should probably take a gel. I needed the gel, but taking my hands out of the mittens in order to take the gel ended up being not so great. My hands were sweaty and with the sub 30F degree temps, after I took that gel, my fingers were frozen solid and would not warm back up. Thankfully, I still had some hand warmers in the car (which I had parked back at the stadium) so I was able to get my hands warm. I was horrified to see that after almost 10 miles, I hadn't even finished half a bottle of Tailwind.
I set off on the last leg of the run, hoping for the best. A few miles in, my stomach told me I needed to find a porta-potty. There were so many runners out that every porta-potty I tried to hit was occupied. I stopped at Turning Basin, both were full and no one was leaving anytime soon, so I went over to Marquand. Same situation. At that point, I just needed to get back closer to my car in case I needed to pull the plug on my run. Also, I knew that there were at least 3 porta-potties close to where my car was parked. Thankfully, I was finally able to use the bathroom and immediately felt better. I was still underfueled and unhydrated though, so I decided to do my last 2-3 miles on the brand new track at the University. It was definitely a nice change from pounding the pavement. I was the only one out there too, which was peaceful. I was able to get through a few laps there and even add in a few strides. Overall, my pace for the entire run was slower than last week's 20 miler, but the temperature and conditions last week were perfect (at least 20 degrees warmer). I now know that I'm like most people, in that my ideal conditions for running are a dry 40-50 degrees F with no wind. It doesn't mean that I'll stop running in less ideal conditions or even heinous conditions though. I still love it all. It makes the problem-solving aspect of running that much more fun.
It's hard to complain when it's this pretty out.
Not my best, but glad I got through considering all of the issues I was having. My mitten paused the watch by accident so I think I actually went 0.5-1 mile longer than recorded.
Weekends have been exhausting but also exhilarating during this training block. Running long definitely puts me in the mindset of Semi-Rad's love/hate relationship with running, but I always have to factor in that I'm not going to spending the rest of the day laying around after a long run. It's always forced "active recovery" because I want to get my kids out and about. Yesterday, my kids did a nice job of doing school work in the morning so that we could enjoy the afternoon. I came back from my run at around 10AM not feeling the best. It was nice that they were occupied so that I could take a moment for self-care. First order of business was getting in some caffeine. I had started the morning off trying to drink some kombucha, but the last batch I had made was too acidic and I could feel the kombucha sliding down into my stomach so I didn't drink anything beyond that first sip. So, not having any caffeine in the system may have also been a reason (beyond the cold) that I just wasn't feeling great to start. That hot coffee that I finally got after my run tasted so good. It also helped to warm me up and then the hot shower that followed was heavenly. I also had some leftover soup that I had made the night before and it ended up being the perfect post-run meal.
By the time lunchtime rolled around, it was at least 20-30 degrees warmer than the morning. We enjoyed sitting outside for lunch. My son has been taking ice-skating lessons for the past 5 weeks, and since he says he will continue after lessons are over, we went and bought him a pair of skates. After a short break at home, which included me scarfing down a homemade vegan and gluten free pizza, I took the kids and one friend each, ice-skating. Usually, I just sit there and read a book while the kids skate, but yesterday, my kids convinced me that I should get on the ice. I started off very slowly, but my son and his friend clapped and cheered every time they skated past me and by the end, it actually felt ok. I only ended up falling twice and they were pretty controlled falls, so no bruises this morning.
Occasionally, I still get a craving for pizza. This homemade one used the Schar gluten free pizza crust, Rao's marinara sauce and a combination of Daiya and Good Planet's vegan cheese.
Skate squad
This morning, I was pleasantly surprised with the way my body handled 18 miles of running and about 3 miles of skating. My feet were a little sore and knees a bit creaky coming down the stairs, but I felt great otherwise. It definitely helps that I didn't have to get up early. With Daylight Savings, I got a full 8 hours of sleep which felt fantastic. I got up early and had a quiet house to myself for about an hour. I think it also really helped that I spent a few minutes with the Hypervolt while watching TV with my daughter. I also ate a huge amount yesterday so I'm sure that also helped with recovery. Excited to go hit the climbing gym later this morning and to have a break from running until Tuesday. Happy NYC Marathon Day to y'all!
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