<p>I’m pretty excited about the rib eye steak I just ate! I’ve discovered a lot of good new braised recipes this winter, but it had been far too long since I’d thrown something over a real fire! </p>
<p>Fortunately, snow showers and cold off and on this week in the White Mountains, so no damage to the winter hiking. Spring is the only season when hiking is not tolerable in NH. Melting snow and mud.</p>
<p>IDad, I had about 3000+ miles of outdoor riding in 5 months of 4 day per week riding in 2013 plus 4 hours per week of indoor riding from mid September 2013 till now and yet when I rode outside down in Florida, the lack of base miles due to the indoor training became apparent. The indoor training maintained my ability to do the rides I did but the effort to do them was much different than how I will feel by June. While I am not a runner and certainly don’t want to speak on MOWC’s behalf about how she has trained during the off season, I would think that if a runner has been limited to indoor training and relatively short outdoor runs during the winter, jumping into a series of longer distance races could lead to the symptoms MOWC described. This is all just “food for thought” and not an attempt to “diagnose” something MOWC is clearly in a better position to evaluate :),</p>
<p>Yeah- the streak probably isn’t helpful. I definitely have enough base. The majority of my running has been outside, with plenty of long runs. Lack of base would show more in a drop off in pace in the later miles of the races. I really haven’t seen that. My heart rate averaged about 2 beats lower than last year’s race under similar conditions - so pretty much same effort level. Last year I had the benefit of a marathon 2 weeks before this race and this year it was a half. I think I am just flat worn out! </p>
<p>Either way, you rock 
smiley is a colon : plus a bracket )</p>
<p>I wonder when you run so much if its possible you don’t get as much race adrenalin and that makes you NOTICE how tough it is? Just a crackpot theory from an armchair quarterback 
I know even my simple little hill slog feels brutal if in my mind I don’t “decide” to let in the exhilaration of it the snow, crunch, bracing temps, etc. Those things can feel miserable or feel great depending on my mindset.</p>
<p>Once I’m “calibrated” to perceiving it as great, then I enjoy it.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, idad, you mean you don’t enjoy going uphill in sloggy mud and slush? I’m surprised :)</p>
<p>I must have been channeling that ribeye lust last night, as my sis and I went out for the most delightful fire grilled ribeye. We concluded it was so delicious because it “tasted like summer.”</p>
<p>:) Testing the smiley- I couldn’t get the colon etc to work yesterday! </p>
<p>Who knows? Prob Vo2 Max has declined and it just all feels like cr@p!</p>
<p>Got my couple of miles in on the treadmill this morning at the hotel overlooking the Windy City ! That coupled with the millions of steps we are walking should help to cancel out some of the calories from the Pequods pizza and Garrett’s popcorn that are satisfying my taste buds this trip!! So I can add Illinois to my states that I have run at least a mile in! </p>
<p>abasket- I started my running “career” in Illinois! In 1976 a friend and I decided to try “jogging”, so off we went from the law school (UChicago) in the WRONG direction! We eventually looked around and made a beeline back the way we came! It did get me hooked, though, and I continued my short runs. It just about took me longer to put all my stuff on in the winter to go run a mile than it took me to run! We didn’t have tech clothing back then, so it was layers and layers and layers. </p>
<p>3.65 easy run today. It’s 83 degrees. I think tomorrow will be a beach run!</p>
<p>One humorous race note- A woman with whom I compete (she’s in the age group above me) got out way ahead of me. I generally beat her, but she goes out fast. At about 10 miles I was thinking to myself (with some unusual charity) that she has been running well! About 30 seconds later I saw her beside the side of the path somewhat bent over. Don’t know if she was puking or stretching. I beat her by 5 minutes! Once I get past her, she has never caught back up. </p>
<p>I ran the wrong race. I would have won age group in the 5K by over 10 minutes and my corporate team would have placed! Oh well.</p>
<p>Walk in snowy woods (1 hour 14 min) for both man and dog:
<p>Tired man and dog</p>
<p>That is so funny about putting a GPS on a dog collar!! We have several really nice, large dog parks around here that we take our dog to and they can go without leash since it’s fenced all the way around. The one we go to most often is about 1.6 miles around the perimeter path, per my MapMyWalk. We always joke that the dog must do at least twice that, even though he’s doing the same route as us, with all the running ahead, running back to us, running ahead, running back to us, that he does. </p>
<p>Oh well, MOfWC, wouldn’t it be nice to have a crystal ball that could predict such stuff?! You did well, and your D was just flying’. B-) </p>
<p>Ran (very painful) 16 miles and simply ran out of gas by the end of my run. Even though I do not breathe though the nose, all that snot and yuck is no help. Grrrats!</p>
<p>BB- glad you got the mileage in. I hope your cold clears up soon! They sure can hang on!</p>
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<p>I’m good at stopping by the side of the road, hands on knees, bent over, panting like a dog! That’s the only part of running that I am good at! :)</p>
<p>My chicken parm (hold the carbs) was outstanding. Loaded it up with homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and grated parmigiano reggiano. Made a second batch, neatly tucked in an oven proof dish, ready to pop in the oven later this week.</p>
<p>Hour with personal trainer today. Just going to have to skip water aerobics class tomorrow - too much going on before our trip including an unexpected doctor’s appt. tomorrow. Won’t be able to make it Wednesday either. When I get back from the trip, the pool will be in the middle of a three-week closure to update the HVAC system, so it looks like I won’t be back in that pool for almost a month. Boo hoo (NOT).</p>
<p>Teri- give it up for Lent! :)</p>
<p>Short walk on Saturday (2 miles). I took Sunday off, but I almost got in 10,000 steps doing stuff around the house. We had some friends over for to watch a movie (Babette’s Feast–some had seen it and others hadn’t). After the movie, we had dessert (I’m not tracking carbs today). I made a French pastry called clafoutis–which is basically heavy cream, butter, almonds, a little flour, and dried cherries soaked in alcohol. Back to the gym on Monday.</p>
<p>Where’s Sabaray? Haven’t heard from her lately.</p>
<p>Good mornin. Lovely sunny and 38 here. Downside is that snow on the trail is starting to collapse so a few times my snowshoes ended up lodged in a bank up to my knee
They’re saying a slow melt is in order this spring, so i have a few weeks yet on snow shoes. I’d sink like a stone in microspikes, I fear.</p>
<p>Loving everyone’s stories the last couple of days. :)</p>
<p>The GPS on the dog collar - hmmm…this sounds like a $$-making idea! We want fit dogs too, right??! </p>
<p>Another side note from my Windy City weekend - shopping! Enjoyed the luxury of browsing and salivating the big city individual stores like Patagonia, Lululemon, NorthFace, etc! Exercised my credit card a bit in Marmot - snagged a pair of running tights for under $40 and a comfy stylish ORANGE - the brighter the better! - tech type shirt that will even great to wear with a pair of jeans on the weekend (my style of dressing!). </p>