I'm on the brink of being crazy

Saturday morning went something like this....
PowerBar....check. Coat of Vaseline on my face....check. Brush the snow off my car.....check. Awesome, not only is there a blanket of snow on the ground, but it's a 'balmy' four degrees and below zero windchill. I don't even know the exact windchill because anything below zero is pretty much the same...awful. And by awful, i mean intense torture and pain. I was right earlier in the week when I said I'd be an icicle. There were times when I thought my thighs were going to freeze mid-stride and leave me stranded along the road until the warm spring weather would thaw me out. But we kept Gatorade refueling, Vaseline reapplying, and kept on running. It was all worth it in the end, as our 10 mile run was complete and the feeling of achieving another mileage milestone replaced the lack of feeling in my extremeties. And as if I weren't already frozen to the bone, I headed home to take an ice bath. Sad, but true, I'm kinda starting to enjoy the ice baths....especially when soaking in a tub of ice water is actually warmer than the run outside.

I'll be an icicle

I've been finding that one of the more difficult parts of this training is obeying the scheduled mileage. I'm not used to limiting myself to 2 or 3 mile runs during the week, so it takes some effort for me to make myself cool down when I feel like i've just warmed up. But I have found pure enjoyment in hopping on the treadmill to see just how fast I can run the shorter distances. Last night's 3 mile run felt great at 24:15, but I'd like to get that down to 22:30. And in a not-so-hot weather report this morning, I found out that saturday morning temps will be around TWO degrees. that should make for an absolutely spectacular 10 miles! The past two saturdays have been cold, even snowy, but overall pleasant for running. Like I told Josh, I'm really not too thrilled about running when the wind chill is less than my age. Not cool, mother nature, not cool.

crank it up!

Finally.....Saturday was my first Team in Training group run, and the fact that i had to wake up at 6am didn't faze me at all. But when I looked at the temperature and saw TWENTY FIVE DEGREES!!?!?!, I thought what am i doing? My question was answered though, when I arrived at the park and took off on the 6 mile run amongst the throng of fellow TNT runners. Six miles felt great and i was certain i could keep on going, until i stopped running and my knees felt like an elephant was standing on them. Not quite sure what that was all about, but I headed to our fitness seminar to hear our coach say, "ice bath, ice bath, ice bath." You've GOT to be kidding me, it's like negative fifty degrees outside and you want me to sit in a trough of ice?!? Well, I can't neglect my coach's words, so after another hour standing in the chilling wind doing some fundraising, I headed home, shivering, to face the ice bath. Made myself a hot cup of cocoa and began filling the tub with cold water. Still an ice bath rookie, i decided not to use ice, and thank goodness because the frigid water alone was enough torture, and it took me 3 minutes just to lower myself in. Even so, I'm looking forward to our 8 mile run this saturday, but the menacing ice bath afterwards is going to take some definite courage.

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