On the Treadmill...And it felt so good!

Last week was a rarity: no workouts and no running for the whole week. By the end of the week, I was feeling jealous of all my friends who were posting about how their exercising was going. I realized that while getting up 'after' the sunrise was nice, I really 'missed' my run routine. Imagine that!

Today marked my first run in 10 days! And it felt so good! Perhaps it was because I gave my body a rest and a chance to focus on restoration. Perhaps it was because the short 'break' allowed my mind to appreciate the activity again. All I know is, I went to LifeTime, got dressed in my shorts, tech shirt, and shoes, activated my Polar watch, and away I went!

I listened to my workout playlist as I started out. I started with a five-minute brisk walk to warm up the legs and get a breathing rhythm going. Then I sped up to a 10:40/mm pace and started the run. The music was in my ears and the running felt effortless. The legs really wanted to go, and my breathing was in sync. So I just went along for the ride.

At some point after the second mile, I was found myself smiling! So I picked up the pace, increasing to a 9:30/mm pace, and it felt so smooth. At that speed, my heart rate was in Zone 3 and still, I felt like I could keep that pace up for a while. I was so in the groove!

Then I looked up at a clock and realized it was passed the time I had to stop (I had to shower and get to work). How disappointing! I ran for 3.77 miles but I think I could have gone for another 3 miles easily. I was late so I didn't take my usual five-minute cooldown, nor did I do any post-run stretching. (Not a good thing to skip by the way)

So, I showered, dressed, got a protein shake 'mix-in' from the LifeCafe (I bring my own whey protein), and headed into the office. Last night, I received a package from the Half Fanatics containing my HF singlet, jacket, and running cap. Very cool! So I decided to wear the jacket to work today. Not going to lie... I was pretty proud to wear the colors of the HF!

Speaking of the HF, I found a race in July (in Hoffman Estates) that I might want to run. It comes the day before the Rock-n-Roll Chicago Half, and if I finish both races I could move up to the Four Moon level in the Fanatics. The only problem is that Mike and I have friends from my W.I.S.H. Running Team coming from Canada to visit that same weekend, and I would rather spend time with them than run two races (and deal with recovery instead of having fun with them_. So I probably won't sign up for it. Guess I have to find another back-to-back Half weekend sometime in the late Fall (after the Chicago Marathon). Moving up to 4 Moons is not critical to my goals for 2012, but if I can fold it into my overall training schedule, it would be special.

And speaking of the Chicago Marathon, registration for that race opens tomorrow at Noon!!! A co-worker is thinking of signing up which is awesome! I was thinking of registering for it over the weekend. I hope registration doesn't close before then (last year it filled up after three weeks)! I wonder how many WISHers might be running the race (it would be cool to run with them).

They postponed my race? So, I ran anyway!

So Friday afternoon, I got the news: The Chicago Polar Dash Half Marathon was being postponed due to weather conditions! Really? This is Chicago! The race is being moved to January 21st instead (one week later). So I cannot say that I am disappointed, just surprised. Yeah, the temps were going to be in the teens and there was likely a lot of snow on the path from the day before. But they didn't cancel school or close the city for that. So it is curious that the Chicago Police Department made the call to postpone the event.

So to put a positive spin on this, I decided that it was a good thing to give me another week to recover from the Disney World Marathon Weekend and to do a few more training runs just to make sure the legs were in decent shape. So why not start?! So instead of racing on Saturday, I went for a Long Run. I was going to run with my Run Club, but when I arrived at what I 'thought' was the meeting location, I quickly figured out I was mistaken. I waited for a while just to make sure, and then went to my usual Long Run location: the Ilinois Prairie Path,

The temperature was 16 degrees but thankfully not very windy. The path itself was covered in snow -- about 5-6 inches worth. And there were not a lot of people out there this time so there weren't any paths through the snow I could run within. So I was blazing my own trail. I was planning on running 6 miles. But after about 2 miles, I could feel my legs getting tired because of all the extra work it takes to keep stabilized on unsure footing (i.e. snow). I decided to cut it a bit short and not risk tripping or something. So I ran for 5.5 miles and called it 'good'! I was happy that I got out there and ran anyway. And, it was a good 'field test' of the clothes I plan to wear for the Polar Dash. I wanted to make sure I would be warm enough. Well, what I wore kept me warm for over an hour so I call 'win' on that score.

This week, I went for two runs, both in the club because I just did not feel up to running in the single digit temps. My Tuesday run was in the evening after work. I don't like running at night because by the end of the day, I am tired. I think that is what happened to me on this run. I felt tired right from the start. I think my blood sugar was low. That would definitely have explained the feeling. I ran for 3.65 miles and was happy when I finished. I grabbed a protein shake afterwards, and then went home to have dinner.

I have to say that it made me worried. It is one thing to feel tired towards the end of a training run, but to feel tired from the start was a new thing. It made me wonder whether I still had another race "in me" or if I needed more rest. It didn't help that I had read an article on Active.Com about recent research about runners and cardiac arrest incidents. The report itself was actually positive in the sense that runners are not more inclined to have heart attacks that anyone else (in fact it is less). But you know how things can get planted in your head? Well that got planted in there.

So Thursday, I went for another run in the club with my running partner Mike. We ran for over 5 miles in the mid-afternoon. And this time, the run felt great! I got into a good rhythm early and we just kept going for a solid hour. After the run, we hit the Jacuzzi for 10 minutes, and then hit the lap pool for about 8 walking laps in the cool water. It was a good workout, and renewed my confidence that I was ready for the Polar Dash Half Marathon coming up this Saturday.