Dashing through the Snow

What a difference a week makes! Last Sunday (Dec 3) I ran a loop at Luton in a t shirt as it was in the 50s.

My next run, 4 miles on a Tuesday, was ten degrees cooler and very windy. It was so windy, in fact, that I thought I might just run on the treadmill. I made it about two minutes and I decided it would be better for me to just throw on a windbreaker and go outside!

Made it a minute and a half on the treadmill and decided I’d rather face the wind and cold. The whole time I had the song “Against the Wind” running through my head. Even though my pace was slow I was glad I decided to #runoutside

A post shared by Wendy Hammond (@wholisticwoman) on Dec 5, 2017 at 12:51pm PST

On Wednesday I was able to join my husband and the Wednesday Night Hills and Stairs group for nearly four miles in a little cooler weather yet, plus a little snow. It had been a year since I last joined them because for the past few months I’ve been teaching a diabetes prevention class every week. That has now gone to monthly sessions so I can once again enjoy an evening of running hills, parking ramp stairs, sparkling downtown lights and delicious Founders beer as a reward. DH was impressed at how much stronger my running is compared to last year. Although I run 15-17 on the trails, I’m starting to get my road pace down to 10-12, and if I push it I can do 9:30s fairly comfortably. I plan to work on speed in the coming year and it gives me hope that I might be able to improve!

Thursday came with even more snow, and I joined the OAM County Trail Runners (we are a new group mostly West of Grand Rapids) for four miles on snow covered trails in the dark. It was SO FUN!

There were four of us, and it was Abby’s first time trail running. I give her serious kudos for having her first attempt at trails be in the dark in the snow! I ran back with her, wanting to take it easy because I had 26 miles on my training plan for Saturday.

Saturday came and there was still snow, and it was pretty cold (in the 20s). Unfortunately I had slept in a bit because of being exhausted from a few hours of making freezer meals and a few glasses of wine. So I was a bit nervous about getting all 26 miles in at Luton before dark (it’s a mountain bike trail that is closed at sunset). I also wasn’t sure how the footing would be.

Luckily the fat bikes had made a nice path, and I was able to do the first 9 mile loop with only two questionable spots. I felt very strong and the trail was beautiful. The snow made everything so quiet that two mountain bikes totally snuck up on me. DH (who is doing the 25K at Yankee so only had to do one loop) caught up to me on my second loop and he told me that our good friends had invited us to dinner. Although I was fairly warm (thanks cold gear!) my feet were soaking wet and I felt a blister coming on. I decided that 20 would have to be good enough. That would allow me to finish in time to go out for dinner with our friends AND be out of the park before dark. So I finished the second 9 mile loop and then did about 2.5 on just the green and blue trail.

last 20 miler until the Yankee 50K. let the taper begin!

A post shared by Wendy Hammond (@wholisticwoman) on Dec 9, 2017 at 12:38pm PST

Yesterday I relaxed, not sore at all. I did some more of the freezer meals (9 down, 6 to go! They always take longer than I think they will. This week I hope to finish the freezer meals, eat them (as opposed to going out), and do four runs. I really need to be more consistent if I want to get faster. Once I do that, I will add in strength and bike. I also signed up for swimming classes in January. Not sure I want to do a triathlon, but it will be good to get some cross training in.

How was your week? For more weekly recaps, check out The Weekly Wrap hosted by HoHo Runsand MissSippiPiddlin

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