I’m a volunteer with Back on My Feet and run with them on Friday mornings. BOMF is a terrific organization - they work with the homeless and offer a running program for people living in a couple of the shelters downtown. They have group runs every Mon, Wed, and Fri mornings at 5:45am. When the temperature is below 15 degrees, they have an arrangement with the local university downtown that allows us to use their fitness center for free. So this morning we ran indoors and it was nice to be able to run on their indoor track. It was a really early start to the day, though, since we had to coordinate carpools from the shelter. I am not a morning person, and getting up at 4:30am is a real challenge for me!
MOWC-I really enjoyed the Hot Chocolate 15K that I ran in December, but tomorrow’s cold sounds brutal. I can’t imagine being a volunteer and having to be out there for hours. Good luck with the race and I hope you stay warm enough. I know that hot chocolate will taste really good at the end!
Romani-great to hear that the new meds provided such quick relief. I hope you continue to feel the improvement. Good luck with the allergist appointment.
We’ve been having the Ezekiel bread from Costco since the beginning of the year and I like it pretty well for toast. I am going to look for the English muffins, though - that sounds really good. Our Costco doesn’t carry them, but I’m going to check out Whole Foods and see if they have them.
The training plan calls for a 15 mile run this weekend. Tomorrow’s temps aren’t forecast to get above the single digits so I don’t think I’m going to get the full run in. If I can get 8 miles or so in, I think I’ll be happy with that.
Yesterday my personal trainer (dog) and I did a nice slow long (for me) run with lots of hills (the trails of the 200-acre park I live next to). Seven miles of up and down and up and down (and up and down) (800 feet of vertical) and it didn’t start raining until we’d been home for ten minutes, so we won. I was all set for a short run this morning, but then the personal trainer (dog) told me he was feeling a bit tired and sore, and I agreed, so I gave the personal trainer (dog) a massage and went and had a nice swim–and came out of the pool to pouring rain.
I’m working up to an 8-10 mile long run once a week and three shorter ones (one with some speedy bits thrown in) but it’s being harder than I’d hoped to get through the long run. I’m recovering well, but I’m S-L-O-O-O-W. Any advice would be appreciated. For the time being, I think I’m just going to let it be slow.
@BunsenBurner : “monomolecular layer of salted butter” made me spray tea through my nose onto my keyboard. Thank you for your gift to humankind.
Well, the 3-4 hour appointment ended up being less than an hour because it quickly became apparently that I was too allergic for the allergy tests xp. So more blood drawn and I came back home to sleep.
My furry personal trainer seems to be having an off day. She’s been sleeping almost all day and doesn’t seem to be her peppy puppy self. She’s also gone back to crying if we don’t hold her paw when she’s asleep… something she hasn’t done since we first brought her home. Poor girl
Waiting for my roommate to come home and then we’re off to try out this workout place that we have a free week pass for. Yay pool!
Two short walks today (1.5 mi each)–it was 12 degrees in the morning and 20 in the afternoon. Tomorrow, it’s going to be -6 degrees. I signed up for spinning class tomorrow.
I bit the bullet and replaced my crushed Polar Loop activity monitor with the Fitbit Charge HR. I keep reading BB’s reports though and I may have buyer’s remorse.
I spoke too soon about my good health. Major back and hip pain yesterday into today. Is it possible that there’s a connection between back pain and cold weather? This is the third year in a row when I’ve had a major incident in February.
Stood for most of the day and took a 2-hour walk (19,000+ steps on the Fitbit). Tomorrow I’m heading to DC, where first it will be bitter cold, then snow and ice and rain. Sounds absolutely dreadful – I’m sure some of my plans will be cancelled because of the weather. The only nice day is the day we’re head home. I’m not planning on leaving the hotel on Sunday and possibly not on Monday either – I’ll hang out in the fitness center, where there’s both a steam room and a sauna. Packing is quite the dilemma – I have to be prepared for temps from below zero with windchill to 50 degrees, plus all the precipitation.
Fireandrain, bummer about the pain! Did all that walking help? Be careful on that ice - a slip won’t help your back!
Well, congratulations on your retirement! I hope the transition is smooth and welcome to your lifestyle! I would think the way you kind of tapered off might make it easier.
Hope your back and hip feel better fireandrain. I think there must be a correlation of joint pain and cold spells. I feel it in my ankle and one of my knees. Oh, this aging…
We had a beautiful warm sunny day on the Florida island. I ran a bit this morning and walked for a total of 10 miles. The fitbit has driven me to a competitive state with my brother-in-law. I finally surpassed his 7 day step average today. All in fun, including some goofy messaging. We went out for Lenten fish this Friday evening for a dinner including assorted oysters and sauteed hogfish with a caper sauce–quite yummy :).
Unscheduled off day today. Been fighting a persistent cold for 3 weeks. Thought I had it beat but today I had a scratchy throat and the sniffles. So I’m gonna be lazy. Just as well though, I beat myself up like a nit wit Wednesday by doing a parallettes routine followed by multiple sets of suspended TRX push-ups, pull ups, weighted chin ups, squats with Dumbbells, deadlifts with my new trap bar, finishing with handstand push-ups using my Smith Machine bar for some balance and resistance assist. What really killed me were the squats and deadlifts. The DOMS I have in my quads and hamstrings is just plain silly lol. My 155 lb son is teasing me relentlessly. As I thought I was hot stuff doing all of this, he was setting a personal record deadlifting 500 lbs. He is a beast.
On another note, my daughter and I signed up to go to the Mad Dogg fitness conference in Miami in June. It will be such a blast to do this with her and just watch her in her world. Of course, getting all the continuing ed with world class presenters and a whole lot of interesting out of the box workouts will be great too!
sabaray, it’s great that your gym is so supportive. It really can make a huge difference in how much you get out of the classes.
fireandrain, yeah, I would think that the extreme cold weather could affect your back and hips. Particularly because it’s also wet and damp where you are. Extended Dynamic (movement based) warming up before you do any classes or workouts might help a lot.
I’m sorry, fireandrain. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and that it’s nothing too serious. For what it’s worth, the cold has always affected my joints and ones that don’t normally hurt scream at me when it’s cold out. I definitely think the cold weather probably has something to do with it.
Michael, hope your cold clears up soon!
I, too, spoke too soon about my joints. My knee started bugging me again today though NOTHING compared to what it was. Still went swimming (yay!!) but only managed to go a few laps. Sat in the hot tub for a while and that was pure bliss.
It felt good to get some activity though… even if it was only a few laps. A few laps is better than no laps
Also, furtrainer is back to her peppy puppy self again tonight. Looks like it was a quick doggy illness
Here in NYC - omg it is COLD. My 15 year old Southern California DD has never experienced anthing like this - I believe it is in the low teens now, single digits last night. All part of the adventure! We’ve still seen a few people running, & a few others going in/out of a nearby gym in shorts. Life goes on.
We had some really amazing pizza and cheesecake last night. I’m going to put on a pound or two this week & not worry about it & enjoy running it off when I get back!
Hot Chocolate 15K report- This 15K did not go well for me. As I’ve mentioned, I am NOT a cold weather runner, but I dressed correctly (warmly) with fleece tights, a tech shirt (Oiselle) and the Lulu puff pullover. I learned a lesson today- at my age I can not “train through” a race. My legs were shot from the beginning. I’ve been pounding away on the treadmill this week- wanting to keep my streak and keep my weekly mileage up. That’s all fine, but it made the race absolutely miserable. I wanted to quit the entire time, but couldn’t quite figure out how without it looking like I was cheating (if I turned around early etc) and I wanted the finisher’s medal! 1:32:56 and I got the course measured long at 9.47- as did most others. 9:49 pace on my Garmin, slower if it was 9.3. It’s a very difficult course with a couple of big hills and lots of gradual upgrades. I survived. Barely.
I walked a little bit in the last mile (and I never walk in races except marathons or if there are huge hills). I was 30 seconds faster than last year, which is good (except I’m in a lot better shape this year), and I got 2nd in the age group (2/18) which is also good. It was really a struggle to finish. Husband got 2nd in his age group in the 5K and daughter did great in the 15K with a 1:22 and a huge PR, so that was good. It was SO cold and we couldn’t really enjoy the post-race food because it was too cold to stand around in our wet stuff. We went to a good breakfast place after we put on dry clothes. Running is stupid.
And the show is ON! NBC says it will be the hottest trials in the US history, and it is not because of the talent. It is going to be a hot day in LA - the forecast says 80 degrees or so?
Just get some mileage in - as long as it is safe to do so.
