Training in Montana

4 TM miles at the Y at Noon as it is currently 2F outside and I don't like bringing all my gear to work. I haven't decided what works better for me - run progessively faster each 1/2 or 1 mile until I'm moving, or go slower then end at a decent pace but not fast. Today my legs felt a bit rough so I walked a bit during mile 2, then ran the rest of the way.

Did 30 situps, 10 pushups, 10 stretch-things from my PT, and 10 pullups. Weighed myself after, and that's a number I've not seen in a while. Slowly slowly catch a monkey they say. Would like it to keep declining as my mileage ramps up.

4 miles from home this morning in what I thought were -2F temps, but turns out was -10F. There was no wind, so it honestly wasn't bad at all, and I was actually dripping sweat on the return trip. I did bad math on the run (I never can do math while running) so I raced back the last 2 miles to try and get my kid to the bus on time, and we still didn't make it. Not only was I not cold, I couldn't cool down for 30 minutes after my run, so I ended up bringing my dress shirt and tie with me in the truck. I drove my kid to school, and me to work in a short sleeve tech shirt, while continually wiping the sweat from my forehead and head with a hand towel, and once I finally cooled down I pulled into a parking lot, put on my white shirt, hopped outside and tucked it in and tied my tie, put on my v-neck sweater (it is -10F after all), and got to work with no sweat. I did bring my hair gel with me and headed to the bathroom to make myself look half decent. Oh the joys of an early morning run when time gets away from you.

AP: I have no idea. But the last 2 miles were 7:35. Legs felt pretty good, maybe I just need more motivation to run fast. Mind over body.

4 cold miles again this morning. Weather app said 2 degrees, so I only 2 layers vs 3 when it was colder, but when I got outside I could tell it was below zero. I was still never cold, and sweating profusely at the end even though my last 2 miles are nearly all downhill and the effort isn't huge. First 2 are of course mostly uphill and I guess it's harder than I think, especially with an extra pound or two of clothes and microspikes, and having to worry about slipping on the snow and ice. Overall was a good run, but dreaming of warmer days with shorts and singlet. Someday soon I'll be in those conditions and dreaming of colder days without so much heat....

4 more subzero miles this morning. Thought it was -2, but afterwards I turned on my truck and it said -8, so I'll go with that. Wore lighter layers today and it felt much better, and I also left my microspikes at home and I ran fine without them and much lighter. Much easier run, but still challenging. Maybe when it warms up I'll be running better, but had to stop and walk at 1.25 miles. Rest of the run went well, and was again sweating like crazy after, even with only 2 layers of clothes on. The body is certainly a furnace factory. This should be the last subzero run of the winter, but looking forward to the above freezing runs which should be coming soon.

I intended to go 6, but I got a bad side ache 1/2 mile into my run, and the SE wind was fierce, so I cut my outside run to 2 miles and hopped on the TM for another couple miles plus a bit. Turns out that eating a couple pancakes slathered in Nutella and Peanut Butter plus drinking a  Gatorade right before running midday is a bad idea. Who knew? 🧐