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January 14, 2005
Gray Days
Where is all the sunshine?
All week long the weather forecast called for 55 to 60 degree weather on Thursday. I was so excited to get out and run in shorts on some clear roads. Once Thursday came it was very far from that picture. It was cold and damp and less than 40 degrees. I thought it might warm up during the day. I was busy from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. when I got out of work. I was planning to go for a run outside at that time. However, it was so dark out and it was pretty cold compared to my expectations that I decided to procrastinate. I went to get some groceries.. I was running low on soymilk and I picked up some crackers for snacking. On my way home I ate some crackers and decided I couldn't run right after I ate so I did some work for one of the classes I am teaching. Finally at 6:30 I decided to just go and run on the treadmill. I ran really easy so that I wouldn't be tired for Friday's run planned with Alison. I ran 10 miles at an 8 minute pace. I then changed the pace to 7.53 because 8's seemed really slow and boring and I moved the incline up a little. I watched t.v. and zoned out. The time went by pretty quickly and I felt fine. It unfortunately was not the most inspiring run but I was happy to get the workout in for the day. I also did about five minutes of ab work.
Finally some warmth!
On Friday morning I got up at 6:15 and enjoyed some coffee with my new French press that my friend unexpectedly mailed me. I knew I would need the coffee before my run because I could not get to sleep until 1 a.m. I was too wired and antsy, feeling restless. The coffee definitely woke me up and made me feel energized. I met Alison in front of the field house at 7 a.m. and was so happy because today was unexpectedly warm. It was about 55 to 60 degrees this morning. I could have gotten away with wearing tights but I really wanted to wear shorts because who knows when I will get to wear them again. I wore shorts and a long sleeve shirt. We did the 4-mile campus loop that I know as a warm up and talked the entire way. There was no snow or ice on the road, which was so nice. It was raining and pretty dark while we were running but the warmer weather and company was very refreshing. We then went to the indoor track and I put a short sleeve shirt on to be cooler. We set out to do 5 miles at 7 minute pace on the track. I ended up running 2 miles and taking a half-mile off to stretch my quad, as it was feeling a little tight. I also mentally did not have the concentration to stick to the complete workout because I was starting to feel really tired from lack of sleep. I then jumped in for the last 2.5 miles at 7 min. pace. Besides my quad tightness, which got better over time and my overall fatigue I felt pretty good. Alison and I were able to talk during the entire workout and the time just seemed to fly by. When we finished the workout we did a mile cool down and then I jogged Alison back to her car. This weekend is very busy for me; I am supervising a track meet tonight at Smith for high schoolers, coaching the team at the Tufts Invitational tomorrow, and supervising and adult track meet on Sunday evening. I may be all tracked out by Monday. Now I have to get back to the track meet.
Posted by mary at January 14, 2005 5:37 PM