Running Chick

I can't believe how out of shape I became over the past few weeks. I've taken several weeks, or even a month off before and never had as much trouble coming back as I have this time. I got my three miles in this Saturday afternoon, but it wasn't pretty. The first 1.25-ish miles were fine (okay, they were downhill) but the rest were just ... hard.  Uphill into a very cold 10 mph wind. I had to stop two or three times just to catch my breath.  Meh. Here's to hoping that next week is better!

I discovered that some streets in my neck of the woods that exist on maps, don't really exist in the real world. Before I left for my run tonight, I had a nice little course mapped out using mapmyrun.com that wasn't just an out and back.  I hate out and back runs, I find them to be utterly boring.  This course went out, cut down, and wove it's way back to my place.  I was looking forward to it. 

So, I get to the spot where my cut-down street is supposed to be and there's nothing there but snow and trees. I thought maybe this was one of the streets that was too steep to keep open in winter - I discovered another one of them on one of my carefully planned out runs last year, which caused an major mid-run route adjustment (so annoying!) - but it actually turns out that there is no street there anymore.  It probably was there years ago..from the size of the trees, we're talking many years...but now it's just been reduced to a narrow path through the trees down to street below.  I suppose I could have taken the path, but getting to it would have required scaling the 3.5' snowbank in front of it.  No thank you.  So, it was just a boring out and back for me.

Besides disappearing streets, this run came with the extra challenge of some lake effect snow!  I don't mind if the snow hits me in the face, but I can't handle when it gets in my eyes.  I'm contemplating purchasing some sunglasses with a few different replaceable lenses.  They're pretty expensive though, so I dunno.  I guess I'll continue to contemplate.

Speaking of the weather, it hit 30 degrees today.  Since I dressed for 20 degree weather, I was sweating my butt off.  I'm going to have to start tracking gear vs. temperature now.  Grr.  The warm spell also caused some portions of the roads to be really soft and squishy, which means virtually no traction, even with my YakTraks on.  I love my Yaktraks, they work great, except in soft, squishy snow.  My quads were really burning when I got back.

Oh, and just in case I haven't bitched about enough things in this post already, I'm noticing that my little three week bout with the sinus thing really had an impact on my fitness level.  I'm seriously huffing and puffing my way through these measly little runs, unable to even come close to the pace I was running in November.  I know it'll come back in time, but it is rather frustrating. 

It's been over a month since I last ran, thanks to the cold/sinus infection/ear infection thing I was plagued with for most of December. Today's whopping two mile (Woo!!1!) run was slow, but it still felt good to finally get back on track.  The first mile or so was flat & decending, then I stepped my way up the hills back home.  Up a block, run a block, up a block, run a block.  I did four repeats.  In retrospect, I probably should have waited until I had a week or two base built up before I started punishing myself with hills, but oh wells.  No pain, no gain.  Sorry about the cliche.

 The weather was a balmy 24 degrees with a slight wind.

For some reason which I have yet to determine, my Sport Tracks report refuses to show the route line on the course map using Firefox.  It seems to work fine in IE.  That's so aggravating.  So, I'm going to start using mapmyrun.com for my route maps, and Sport Tracks for the rest of the particulars.  This is going to cause some double-duty for me, but at least I'll be able to see my own maps in my own blag!

 Here's the report of my stellar 2-miler and the map:

In other news, I seem to have acquired a slight lower back strain which I can only assume is due to heaving snow around yesterday. My lower back is really achy. It's not bothered by running, but it's making itself known all other times. Hope this doesn't last for long, it's a real pain.