Frozen Training

Brrrr! I know I live in Minnesota and all, but come on! It has been crazy cold here. Morning temps have been well below zero without even factoring in the wind chill. So far, I've been able to avoid the dreaded treadmill. When it's below zero, I've headed to the local recreation dome. On Thursday, it was a balmy zero with no wind, so friend and I headed down to the lakes. We ran 7 miles and every ten minutes observed that it really wasn't so bad out. Sad when zero seems like a break in the weather.

There is no wimping out because of the weather as I only have two more weeks to get ready for the Securian Frozen Half Marathon. The tag line for this race is, "The few, the proud, the frozen." I've never done this race before, but in a funny way it has special meaning for me. I had never raced further than a 5K when I decided to train for the Frozen Half in 2006. Being the over-planner that I am, I checked the website in August 2005, wrote the date on my calendar and mapped out a 16 week training plan. With about 6 weeks to go until race day, I went back to the web page to get the registration information. The race was now listed for a different date, the day before I had it on my calendar. The information I looked at originally was from the previous year. I had checked so early that they hadn't updated it for the next year yet.

I had comitted to volunteer for a school activity on the real race day and it was a big event. With weeks of planning and training already in the bank, I decided I would run my own virtual race the following day. When I got up the next morning, it was well below zero and it was windy. I didn't have any experience running in temperatures like that. What to do? I ran my race on my treadmill. Here I am at the finish:

Mike made me my own race number and you can see where he wrote my finish time on my bib. I had never run that far before. Going the distance was very difficult for me and I had a lot of knee pain the entire time. I had wanted to finish in 2:30 and I beat it by 56 seconds, so I was glad and relieved to have it over with. I was pretty proud of myself and I didn't want to turn the treadmill off and erase the display.

It took me over a year to run my first official half marathon. Now I've run more than 13 miles many times. Although 13 miles doesn't scare me like it did just 4 years ago, it isn't something that I take lightly. I'm going to have to be creative to get in some miles between now and the race. Mike and I are going to squeeze in a couple days of skiing next weekend. I'm planning on getting in a 10 mile run tomorrow and then hopefully at least two more runs before we leave. I never have any luck running at altitude, so skiing and snowshoeing will have to suffice until we get back. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the warm up promised by the weather service lasts until race day. I really don't need to be frozen to be proud.

Racing the Rain

Thursday has been my long run day for a couple of years now. Having kids with busy weekend schedules and a working husband that already has dibs on Saturday long runs, I need to get my long run out of the way during the week so I can play car pool driver and sport spectator on the weekends. My favorite benefit of the Thursday long run is that it gets it out of the way, so when Saturday comes around, I know that I already have mine in the bag.

Today was Thursday and there was a 85% chance of rain starting at 8:00 a.m. My kids leave for school at 7:20. The moment they left, I turned on the Garmin, turned up the iPod and bolted out the door. I was determined to get in a few miles before the rain started coming down. The 2 mile loop around my house is perfect for days like today. Yes, it's boring, but knowing that I'm never more than 10 minutes from home makes up for it.

The air was saturated enough that the ground was wet, but for the first loop it was just foggy. During the middle of the second loop, it started to mist. I could see to the west that the air was thick with moisture and that the rain was on its way. At mile 4, it still wasn't raining. Now I was kind of disappointed. I had figured my run would be cut short by the rain so I really hadn't mentally prepared for more than 4 miles. Where was my excuse? I started out trying to beat the rain but was now was getting irritated that I wasn't going to get out of my run early. I rounded the nearby subdivision which adds another mile, and thankfully it started to precipitate a little more than a mist. I decided that this was a legitimate sprinkle. Whew! Now I could head home with no guilt. I hit the driveway right at 5 miles and was still pretty dry. Sure, 5 miles doesn't count as a long run, but it's the off season and it was raining. See, I couldn't help it!

Next Monday, November 1st, is a big day on my running calendar. The Plymouth Dome, my winter sanctuary, with it's AstroTurf track, temperature controlled atmosphere, and walkers that don't pay attention and hog the whole track will be open for the public. There is a "usual crowd" at the dome and I have to admit that I miss them. Let's face it, runners are a pretty homogeneous group compared to the general population. Walkers, however, are very diverse. They come in all ages, some walk with evidence of a battle against an injury or disease, some are very serious and some are there to socialize. They all make for great people watching and help pass the time on the little track.

So this Monday will mark my freedom from the weather man. Bring on the rain, the snow, the bitter cold winds. I'll have my hodgepodge of regulars and the dome as my back up plan. Thank you, taxpayers of Plymouth, MN. It's no wonder Money Magazine voted Plymouth the best place to live in 2008. What more could anyone want from their tax dollars than to provide me with a place to run all winter long?

Weather Obsession

When we take on something new in our lives, we can usually guess the ways our lives will change. For instance, when I had a baby, of course I knew I would love being a mom and find it incredibly rewarding. I also figured that I would be changing diapers, cleaning up bodily fluids and losing a lot of sleep. Same thing with training for a marathon, I figured I would feel stronger and healthier, as well as feel sore and tired.

Some things, however, hit you by surprise. I never, in my wildest dreams, would have guessed how much laundry a family of four could generate. Seriously, you would think that we are all changing clothes every 5 minutes given how much laundry I have to wash and put away each day.

In the case of training, being on a training schedule has brought about a severe case of Weather Obsession. Checking the weather and then worrying about it is one of my top priorities. I guess I would have to put keeping the children alive and keeping my husband happy enough not to leave me higher on my priority list, but Weather Obsession has been steadily climbing the charts.

To satisfy my obsession, I have a thermometer by my bed that tells me the temperature outside. I have another one in my bathroom so I can consult it while I'm getting ready. I have to check the weather forecast before I go to bed each night during which I tend to moan and gnash my teeth when when the forecast doesn't compliment my running schedule. I celebrate when it is my day off and it rains, and I can't sleep at night if I have a long run scheduled and it's supposed to snow or storm. The worst of all my fears... wind. I can't stand running when it's really windy.

I know I'm not alone in my Weather Obsession because Mark H. had a nifty link on his blog to a great National Weather Service site for the Twin Cities. It gives so much hour by hour information that you may need a meteorological degree to figure it all out. I am now addicted to that site. Thanks, Mark.

My husband likes to pretend that he doesn't care about the weather. He likes to act like this is all my problem. But then, right before we go to bed, he'll ask if I want to check the weather. He laughs like he's just humoring me, but I know that secretly he wants to know the forecast just as badly as I do. He's not fooling anyone.

Thanks to my Weather Obsession, I can happily report that, not only is today an incredibly beautiful day, but that Thursday looks like a great day for my last 20 miler before the race. It's going to be 43 degrees when I start and in the mid 50's when I'm done. There is less than 10% chance of rain and the winds will be 10-13 mph (a little windy for me, but hey... not too bad).

Did I mention that I get really angry when the weather forecast is wrong? Well, I guess I'll tell you about that another day. For right now, I'm just so happy that Spring is finally here!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: I got my 17 mile run finished.

The Bad: It was -12 degrees when I got up this morning. I kept waiting for it to warm up, but at 9:00 it was still -10. I gave up and headed downstairs to the treadmill.

The Ugly: I had to stop 4 times to stretch out my back, twice to change Lost DVDs, and once to go to the bathroom. By the end, I was running slower than a twelve minute mile. I have a huge blister on one of my toes. I'll spare you pictures. If you would like to see blister pictures, I'm sure Steve has some blister pics you can look at.

I'm just glad to be done! Please, Spring, I need you. The weatherman says it's going to be 50 degrees by early next week. I hope that forecast is more accurate than the one that said it was going to be in the teens this morning.