The Week of 02/03/2014: Commited

This was a week of commitment - two major races registered for!

I'm still having trouble getting my workouts in - the cold has had something to do with that as well as my need for shuteye.  It's hard to believe that just a couple of years ago I was able to function on just 5 hours or less of sleep per night.

Lastly my weight has poked up north of 240 again.  Obviously I would like to reverse that trend.  

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Monday 02/03/2014

I pulled the trigger today and registered for both the 2014 Twin Cities Marathon in October and the 100% Irish for a day 10 miler in March

I skipped my scheduled 6 mile recovery run in the morning, ran an easy 3.11 on the treadmill tonight.  It was only half the mileage that I wanted to get in for the day, but something is better than nothing, and it allowed me to get to bed before midnight.

Tuesday 02/04/2014

Another 6 mile RR scheduled for this morning, took matters outside and ended up running 4.50 of it.  timing wise my pace was only a few seconds per mile faster than last night's treadmill run, but based on my heart rate, this was an aerobic run all the way.

It was -02º and thus a little nippy. Far and away the worst part was the part at the beginning that I spent standing around and waiting for my Garmin to find the stupid satellites. Also, I was just in a beanie, so for the first 3/4 of a mile or so I was really wishing that I had worn my balaclava, though things eventually settled down. All things being equal if it is that cold or worse, I think that I would go for the second layer on my legs.

Wednesday 02/05/2014

My daughter woke up in the middle of the night (around 3AM) asking for a glass of water.  Heading back to bed afterward I could just feel it in my bones that getting back up at 4:30 for my scheduled 6 mile recovery run just wasn't in the cards, so I skipped it.  I had things to do in the evening, so a makeup run didn't happen.

Thursday 02/06/2014

Got in my scheduled 5 miles this morning, despite it being -09º.  The sidewalks were clear only in the most rudimentary sense, in that the snow on them wasn't as deep as the boulevard.  Still there was about 3/4" of packed snow on them, which gave just enough to replicate that dream we all have where we are being chased by some terror, and we cannot run away fast enough.  In this case I wasn't being chased but nevertheless I could not run fast enough, plus it took more effort to do so.  All the same it was a delightful run, and the predawn skies were beautiful.

Friday 02/07/2014

Skipped my scheduled swim for this morning (Actually slept through alarm to be more accurate).

Saturday 02/08/2014

I went snowshoeing with my son at William O'Brien state park in the morning - it took us quite some time to cover the 1.6 mile loop but I was just happy to get him out for his first outing on a pair of snowshoes:

 

Did a run in the evening - Started at the Lake Harriet bandshell, did a lap around lake Harriet followed by a figure eight around Calhoun & Lake of the Isles.  10.1 miles total, I call the route "The Ant," maybe you can see why:

Sunday 02/09/2014

I considered doing a makeup run today but in the end stuck with the planned rest.

Sunday night weigh-in:   240.2