New Year, Same Me!

Monday
Did: 1.08 mi @ 8:44/mi
Finished out the #RWRunStreak with a simple one-miler in the neighborhood. Need to get a plan or something on the schedule because I'm feeling aimless in my runs lately.

Tuesday
Did: 6.2 mi treadmill #10kTuesday

Nope. Treadmill it is!

Chickened out on running outdoors today, though as hot as the gym was I almost would have preferred 14F. UGH.
Did a ladder workout to make it interesting...
ladder intervals @ 7:00/mi
1600 / 1200 / 800 / 400
3x 400 @ 6:30/mi
Tough but manageable. First 10k Tuesday of 2018!

Wednesday
Did: strength training
I finally talked to the physical therapist's office about PT for my abdominal separation... they said their first available appointments were in March. 😐 I'm not going to do nothing / take it easy for 2 months, so I decided whatever "damage" I've done in 2.5 years can't get too much worse if I keep doing what I'm doing for another 2 months. SO I went back to my normal routine, but nixed the mason twists and pull-ups for the time being.

Thursday
Did: 6.2 mi mountain bike ride
Rode the USC Upstate trails with Scott today. With the 10+mph winds and 17F windchill, we figured staying in the relative shelter of the woods was a good idea (spoiler alert: we were right). I bundled up as much as possible, including the Electric Marshmallow jacket. The ride was good... I was a bit pokey and overly cautious since I'm still "getting my legs back" on the mountain bike, but other than that, it was a nice day in the woods. The wind was VERY cold, but eventually everything except my toes warmed up nicely.

Friday
Did: #yogaFriday

Saturday
Did: 8.15 mi @ 8:13/mi avg - "Best 10" route
Ran with the early downtown group to get in some COLD miles. I was super cold (mostly my face and hands) for the first mile or so, but after that I felt good. It was about 12F when I started with 3 others who braved the frigid temps, and one cut short after 4. The rest of us ran 8 and even though I'd wanted and felt like I was getting a decently easy run, turns out we pushed the pace just as much as last week's "easy" Friday Five. Guess I'm pretty happy that I haven't lost as much speed as I think I have!

I also had an odd thing happen... after the run, I got back into the car and cranked the heat while heading home. After a few minutes I noticed my legs were itching like crazy! I thought it was just the normal tingly feeling as they warm back up from being cold, but it was insanely itchy. I got home and realized I basically had hives popping up on my upper legs. I Googled it (because what else do you do??) and apparently it's A Thing. You can be allergic to the cold! #themoreyouknow
Thankfully it went away after 30 mins or so. SO STRANGE.

Sunday
Did: 5.07 mi @ 8:53/mi avg
Headed out after lunch in the much more reasonable temperatures of 28F. Did the reverse of the loop through Green Valley that Scott and I had done last week. I liked this direction! Took a picture of a cool tree, had some really insightful and philosophical things to say about it but don't have time to write as much as I wanted to on that thought. Basically, the tree is your life (the general "your") and each branch represents reaching towards something... a goal, a person, etc - something that leads you down a certain path. There are twists and turns as you're on your way towards that 'something' but in the end, those twists and turns are what make the entire tree beautiful.

"Reaching"

Yep, still cold.

Week End Summary

Miles run this week: 21-ish

Bike: 1x

Strength: 1x

I've decided that while I'm not "in training" for anything, I'll maintain a goal of 20-25 mpw running, 2x biking, and 1x strength. Made that except for only once on the bike this week, but while the temps are this cold, it's tough to make that a reality.