All Downhill From Here

Yesterday I woke up to a snow-covered world. The forecasters had predicted snow and rapidly-dropping temperatures, but so far it was still fairly warm for a world with snow covering it (-2C/28F).

I’ve been recovering steadily from my cold, but admit it was a doozie. Yesterday was my 10th day with a pocket full of tissues, but I was up for a RUN! I hemmed and hawed about strapping on the Yaktrax, as the snow layer was still pretty thin, but didn’t know how icy the ground would be under the white stuff. I debated whether to wear the windbreaker or just an extra t-shirt.

Better safe than sorry, I wore both the windbreaker and the Yaktrax and set my hopes for a 7 km jog, with a fall-back of 5km if I didn’t feel good. The first km went swimmingly, though my legs and cardio system disagreed about the pace, and I vascillated between the legs feeling fantastic and the lungs working hard to keep up. The sidewalk snow tractor had been out, and there wasn’t much covering the ground, just a little slush, so I took off the Yaktrax for the second km.

The slush was slipperier than I thought. It was like jelly with a thin crust on top. Upside down toast. It even sounded like it when my feet landed. Clish, clish, clish.

I put the darn things back on my feet for the 3rd km and was feeling so beautifully warmed up and secure that I ran a 5:30 km! What the heck was I thinking, said my lungs. Settle down and find a nice pace or we’ll whine all the way home, they said. So my legs finally found a comfy pace and I jogged happily all the way home.

Man, it felt good! I hadn’t had a good, solid run like this in weeks.

Update on other fronts: Hubby is feeling pretty amazing since starting on antibiotics earlier this week. He thanks you for your healthy wishes.

We have more snow now this morning, and the temperatures have plummeted to -14C/6.8F. Glad I went out yesterday 🙂

Mid-Pack-Mom had a great question over on her Blog. I like this topic so much I got a little carried away on it…

You can definitely get faster without injury on 3-4 running days a week, especially if you are crosstraining in between. Keep your week day runs under an hour, and jazz them up with speed bursts or hill repeats between warm-ups and cool-downs. Gradually stretch a weekend run out into a long slow one, increasing by no more than 10% a week, or even every 2 weeks, depending on how long it takes you to recover. If you are looking at improving a 10k time, for example, a long run of 16 km is quite sufficient to help you build up stamina. A 5k race time goal doesn’t even need a long run that long.

Use a 4th running day when you have time, as a light, short easy run to prepare for or recover from a race, speed work out or a long run.

Speed work outs remind your body that it doesn’t just have one speed, and help push your oxygen levels in your muscles to be more efficient. There are technical terms for stuff like this, like VO2 Max Threshold, but I won’t go into that today.

Hills build strength and character, in your body and soul.

Long runs build stamina, and the psychological advantage of knowing that you can run way further than your race distance, so why not push it just a little faster on race day? A regular long run experience a good thing to have in your back pocket.

As for the trail training question, trail running can really help your stabilizing muscles, ligaments, etc. to get stronger, as well as offering a softer training surface. Trails also can be more interesting to run as you need to watch the surface so you don’t trip, and the scenery can pleasantly distract you from tiredness. Like any new thing, try it out gradually, maybe a block or a km at a time, to let your body adjust to the new demands.

When it comes to breathing, and this is just a personal thing, I breathe 3 out and 2 in when I am happily motoring along. Sometimes at the beginning it is reversed, as my body needs to adjust to the oxygen my legs are requiring, but usually after I am warmed up I can do 3 breaths out and 2 in for almost ever (until I sprint to the finish).

I actually had a good sleep last night, for the first time in a few nights, and am feeling less congested and more energetic today. I’m pacing myself, so as not to negate all the rest time I’ve put in over the last few days, but feeling good.

I toasted up a pile of hazelnuts while mixing up a batch of bread earlier today. The hazelnuts are for some upcoming Christmas baking, so hopefully I won’t eat them all before I get them baked into something. Bread set to rise, hazelnuts with their skins rubbed off and set to cool, I joyfully changed into exercise clothes and went OUT THE DOOR.

I couldn’t help it. The sun was shining and a light breeze tugged playfully at my hair. I sucked in spearmint-fresh air at just above freezing and took great strides away from my home. I made myself walk the first kilometer, as I didn’t want to overdo it, but I swung my arms and marvelled at the freedom of forward movement.

I crossed the boulevard and headed on a slight downhill toward one of my favourite little valleys. I gently jogged for 2 minutes, walked for 2, and then happily ran down a little 1 minute hill and jogged along the bottom for another minute. The view of my blue, hazy Rocky Mountains greeted me, and I was very happy to be outside and breathing deeply.

I climbed a little hill back up to my neighborhood and walked the rest of the way home, for a mini-work-out of 25 minutes.

I drank some fruit juice, punched down and shaped the bread, had a shower and settled down for a handful of toasted hazelnuts and a honey sandwich. Now the bread’s out and a chicken’s a-roasting. All the talk of Thanksgiving down south has given me a hankering for roast poultry, mashed potatoes and gravy.

I am more thankful for my health, even with this nasty cold.

” We would never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world” – Helen Keller

I couldn’t resist adding the link to this comic about XC cheerleaders in Close to Home today. If you’re not reading this on November 27th you’ll need to go into the archives for today to find it.

I may be sick, but my sense of humour is in here somewhere…

The cold won, I’m staying at home today. I might get out for a token walk around the block, now that the pressure-pain in my head has mostly subsided. I even stayed home from work yesterday. I need to get out for a wee walk and expand the lungs a bit. I’ve been breathing too shallowly and need to remind the lungs NOT to get sick, too.

The Pink Lady and Yo-go will be racing the Okotoks XC today. I can’t wait to hear about the new course for this year.

This would have been my 23rd Grand Prix series XC in a row – Hey 22 in a row isn’t bad.