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January 29, 2005
Pretty Darn Uncomfortable
I have to admit that I laughed at the comments posted on my last entry. One of the reasons that I frequently list how much clothing I have on is that so many of the other bloggers seem to have a completly different internal thermometer than I do. A girl who I used to work with swore up and down that the reason I was so cold was because of my running, but if she met all of y'all, she'd have to change her mind on that theory. Wearing so many clothes is kind of like weight training, it probably adds about five pounds to my body weight. That way when I race in a bra top and shorts I feel so light! The definition of the guy who I am kind of sort of casually dating may even be too much of a definition. I'm not too sure about where I want it to go. I do the terrible thing on occasion that if I see it is him calling and I don't feel up to talking I don't answer. That is probably not a good sign of where the possiblilty of a relationship is heading.
OK, onto the running related stuff...Yesterday was a day completely off. No running, no cross-training, nada. After Thursday night taking so much effort, I decided that taking the day off was in my best interest. The only form of working out was some ab work and stretching out on the foam roller. This was quite helpful in loosening up those darn tight hip flexors. Massaging my right foot in the plantar and the big toe has been helping the tingling sensation that I have been getting for the past two weeks or so. Today there is a bit of a blood blister on that foot, but the other stuff does not hurt.
When I woke up this morning the news said that it was about ten degrees out with wind chills well below zero. Let me tell ya: it felt a whole heck of a lot colder out. Two pairs of tights, four layers on top (but warmer layers than Thursday night), two pairs of gloves, mittens, and two hats did not make me feel warm. I enjoyed the company on the run and felt much better than I did last week, but in general, it was not a pleasant experience. At about the five mile mark, I turned around to say something to J and he just burst out laughing at me. I had grown a beard of ice! Of course, he had icicles growing out of his goatee, so he wasn't looking that hot himself. He was yelling at us that we should have been running about a minute and a half slower than our goal 10K pace, I had to turn around and tell him that unlike himself, I was right on where I should have been. Nothing like putting a man in his place.
J was not planning on going as far as M, A, R, K, M, and myself, so he turned back earlier. Our plan was to go for about 90 minutes. We decided to go by time on our out and back course. There is another course that we could have done that includes a kind of spooky hill road and running back along a pretty major road. The thought of trucks driving by at 50 miles per hour and the gusts of wind associated with that did not sound too appealing, so we just went out and back. The way out is pretty downhill, hence the way back is pretty uphill. One section is three hills that grow steeper, not a fun experience on the way back in on a long run. Anyhow, we turned around at about 47 minutes (at a landmark, not by time). When we ran by a creek, M said that he thought he would last about 30 seconds in it before his heart stopped beating, my reply was that it was about 29 seconds longer than I would last, but he was saying that I would not even be able to make it in without my heart stopping. I am happy to say that I felt pretty strong on the hills coming in. K and I kind of got away from the rest of the group on the third of the series of hills. This week was a much stronger feeling than last week. On the final section of the run, my contact lenses were freezing to my eyes. My eyelashes had icicles on them. This was the final straw in my decision that this run just was not comfortable. My eyes still hurt from the freezing. When we got back, we were all laughing about how much frost we had on our clothes. None of us can remember having a stretch quite this bitter for this long recently. We figured out that our run was just about 13 miles. K and I finished in 91 minutes, actually 90 and change, but I ran around to hit 91. This meant that we came back up the hills quite a bit faster than the way down.
I headed over to the gym after the run. I got on an elliptical for 35 minutes. My right toe had hardly any numbness after the run and by picking my feet up off the pedals it was not too much of a concern on the elliptical. I did it really, really easy since I did my "long" run before. I got off and then rode the bike for 45 minutes while reading Paula's book. I stretched pretty well since I could feel tightness setting in. Then I got to lifting. I did two exercises each for chest, triceps, and biceps and one for back. I want to feel sore tomorrow. Sometime this afternoon I'll do core exercises while watching TV.
Right now my dad is being an absolute sweetheart and washing my car. Well, he's washing all of the cars, but mine is in there. He has to move them into the garage to do it since the water is freezing on the cars. I'm doing laundry since wearing five layers at a time makes it add up really fast. My mom and I have to hit the grocery store and the gift shop after the car is clean.
Monday is day one of the attempted doubles. Tomorrow is going to be very easy so that I can get up well before the sun comes out. J said just get all of the stuff out the night before, roll out of bed, go slow, and then get going for the rest of the day. My dad has a headlamp that I want to borrow, but the moon might be lighting my way!
Posted by Blondie at January 29, 2005 01:25 PM