Same Time, Same Channel

Recovery run. Average pace: 10:52.

Outside temp: 48°F

I've been pushing myself really hard the last couple of months and I'm pretty worn out. I've had this cold/cough and the long run last Saturday was really hard for me. This week is supposed to be a cut back week and so I decided to cut back more than I have been doing. I decided to cut back nearly 50%. So I planned to run between 3 and 4 miles this morning. It was a good thing, because I overslept. I set my alarm, but neglected to turn it on. So my son showed up in my room at 5:57 saying that he needed a ride to seminary. He's supposed to be at seminary at 6:00, so I got up and slipped on some flip-flops, my glasses, and my coat, and drove him to seminary. I probably needed the extra sleep, so it was good in that respect.

After I got back home, I finally managed to complete week 2 day 2 of the pushups program. I suspect that week 2 day 3 will take several attempts as well.

It was relatively warm for my run today, but it is supposed to get colder as the days go one, with snow starting in the afternoon and continuing through the night, with 3-5" of accumulation by morning. I'm seriously considering running on the treadmill tomorrow.

I didn't take my mp3 player with my on my run this morning and I had "Infant Lowly, Infant Holy," which we worked on at choir practice yesterday, going through my head the whole time. I'm fairly stressed out about the choir program. We've only got two more practices before the performance, and we're not really solid on four of the five pieces we're singing. We're okay on one of the five because it's very simple.

Easy run on the treadmill for 45 minutes.

We've got probably about 4 inches of snow and it's still coming down, but slowly now. I don't mind running on about an inch of snow, but if it's deep enough to come up to my ankles when I step in it, I don't want to run in it.

I watched the local news while I ran on the treadmill, but the sound was muted so the closed captions were on. The closed captions were mostly good, but sometimes confusing and sometimes amusing. In the traffic report, there was something about I-70 and Iraqi. I really can't figure out what they were saying that caused the closed captioner to type Iraqi. And then later they must have been talking about the ski town Telluride. The closed captioner typed tell your ride. I got a chuckle out of that. Other than that, the run was pretty boring. Watching all the school delays and closings scroll across the bottom of the screen, and the same weather report and traffic report over and over was not too exciting.

My kids have a one hour delay this morning. That means that the elementary school doesn't start until 10:00, so I've still got them home for another hour.

Easy/moderate. Average pace: 9:41.

Outside temp: 19°F

For some reason the cold temperatures in the morning don't seem as cold to me as the cold temperatures in the evening. I was out last night to go to my son's HS orchestra concert and I was freezing walking between the car and the building with my winter coat on. Then this morning, with just a long-sleeved tech shirt and a fleece hoody, with the temperature lower than it was last night, I was fine, even before I started running.

It was supposed to be an easy run today, but I felt good for some reason. Maybe because I've taken it really easy with short mileage the last two days. And I was doing short mileage again today, so after I got warmed up a bit, I decided to push it just a little bit. My splits were: 10:33, 9:41, and 9:17, with the last 1/2 mile at 8:50 pace. I felt really good and would have kept going if I had had the time, but I had to get home and get the kids off to school and get ready for work.

The roads and sidewalks were mostly clear, with a strip of snow/ice of varying widths between the sidewalk and the road. Sometimes I went on the sidewalk and sometimes on the road, but I had to go fairly far out in the road to get beyond the ice in some spots. There were patches of ice here and there, especially where parking lots exited to the road I was running on. I had to jump over lots of small ice patches, and at one point I hit a big ice patch and started to slip, arms flailing and all, but I managed to get my other foot down and regain my balance and I didn't fall. We're supposed to get some more melting today, so the roads should be fine tomorrow and for the rest of the week. The next storm is expected on Sunday.

Before my run this morning I completed week 2 day 3 of the pushups program on my first try! I did 61 pushups! I think skipping the shred really helps. I'm too fatigued if I do the shred. You're supposed to take a test before starting week 3 to see what column you're supposed to follow in week 3, so I think I'll do the test on Friday morning and start week 3 next Monday. I might continue to lay off the shred until I get through this pushups program.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:14.

Outside temp: 26°F

This was just a short run early in the morning. I was done before the sun came up. I had to run early this morning because my husband got in a car accident last night. It was his fault. He's a little sore, but okay. I can't say as much for the car he was driving. So we had to go to the rental car place early this morning and get a car. I wanted to get my run done before we did that. We're waiting to find out how much his ticket is going to cost us and whether our car is totaled. The front part of the front end is pretty smashed and the car is 6.5 years old and has over 100,000 miles on it.

I ate cookies and ice cream last night because I was upset. I knew it was emotional eating, but I did it anyway.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:28.

Outside temp: 26°F

I did a pushups test this morning to see what column I should follow for week 3 of the pushups program. I followed the second column for the first two weeks. If I managed 16-20 I was supposed to follow column 1 going forward, and I needed 21-25 in order to follow column 2. I barely managed 20. I could go forward with column 1 and week 3, but I'd like to try to stick with column 2, so I think I'll repeat week 2 this next week and then test again and see if I can manage 21 or more pushups in one set.

My run was uneventful. The whole thing was in the dark. I think I need to replace the batteries in my headlamp. It wasn't giving me much light, but it's not a big deal because there are plenty of street lights. There's still snow on the ground, but the roads and sidewalks are clear for the most part. There are still a few icy spots here and there, but less with each day. However, it's supposed to snow again on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, so I may spend some time on the treadmill the first part of next week.

I'm trying to decide where to go for my long run tomorrow. I'm planning to do 12 miles. I could do Waterton Canyon, which I've never done before, but I don't know whether it's still snowy there. I could do the Highline Canal Trail, which I've done the past few Saturdays, or I could stick to the roads in Highlands Ranch. I have a coworker who lives kind of near Waterton Canyon, I think. So I'll ask her how much snow she has at her house.

Long run. Average pace: 9:52.

Outside temp: Motionbased says it was 46°, but that's at Centennial Airport, and I was quite a ways from Centennial Airport and in a canyon. I think it was colder than that.

I ran up and back down Waterton Canyon. It was a dirt road, that vehicles can drive on, but only authorized vehicles. I saw one truck. It connects to a fairly difficult mountain biking trail after the 6th mile, so runners typically turn around at that point, like I did today. I saw a lot of runners, and interstingly, most of them were women. It was shady most of the time and icy in some spots, but sunny in some spots. It was a little muddy on the way back down the cabin. The road goes along a river and at one point, there was a layer of ice on the river.

A woman that I know who is a triathlon coach recommended that I run Waterton Canyon as a way to practice downhill running in preparation for the Ogden marathon. But of course, in order to run down Waterton Canyon, I first had to run up Waterton Canyon. It never seemed very steep, but according to my Garmin, there was an elevation change of 3,000 ft. from the bottom of the canyon to where I turned around. The uphill never felt really hard and the downhill never felt really easy. However, I guess there was more of a distance than I perceived because my splits for the first six miles were all between 10:05 and 10:22, and the splits for miles 7 through 11 were between 9:36 and 9:48. I made a conscious attempt to run faster on mile 12 and ran it in 8:47.

My shoes are a little muddy.

I love Colorado.