Confession: I love cold weather and I'd much rather run when I need a jacket, hat, and gloves than when it's crazy hot and humid. But I still lose motivation to get out there and run when it's cold out. I mean, I love it as soon as I get going, but taking that step from the warm house into the cold outside it so hard. Add in the fact that winter has seemed very grey here the last few years and you find me wanting to sit in a warm spot with a bright light on reading a book. But we all know that getting moving goes a long ways towards fighting the "blahs" that come with less sunlight during the winter. Remember your "why" - It doesn't necessarily have to be your "why" for running, just your "why" for this particular run. Perhaps … [Read more...]
Tips and Tricks for a Fit Winter
Winter is coming! Or at least that's the rumor I've heard LOL. Our weather has been all over the place this fall. MCM was borderline hot. The other day it was cold and rainy. Sunday it's supposed to be in the mid 70s again. I can't keep up! But I know that it's inevitable and the cold days will come. Buy the appropriate gear - While not all of my workouts are going to be outside, I try to run outside as often as I can. I only stay inside if it's icy or it's super cold AND windy. One of the most important things for me is a decent wind breaking running jacket. If you have that, you can layer as many layers as you need under it to stay warm. That kid from the Christmas Story? Yeah, that's me on the run in the winter. Find some … [Read more...]
Gear to keep you warm when it’s cold outside
I love winter running. I am not a fan of heat and humidity, so I'd much rather run in all the layers than sweat through a 100* run. We haven't had too many days so far this year to pull out the big guns, but since the topic for today's Tuesdays on the Run is "cold weather gear", I thought I'd share some that I expect to use yet this winter. I, of course, have some old favorites that I've written about before, but here are some new things that I've recently gotten. Skirt Sports Toasty Collection Skirt Sports recently came out with a "Toasty" collection. This collection has a variety of items for the cold weather runner. I have to admit that somehow I own them all. I know. My favorite so far is the Toasty tights. They have wind … [Read more...]
Great Chocolate 5 mile race recap
Great Chocolate 5 Mile Race December 10, 2016 47:10 Temp: 31* (feels like of 24*) What I wore: Skirt Sports Ambassador beanie, Sugoi running jacket, half zip, tank top, Happy Girl Skirt, tights, PROcompression socks, wool socks, and Altra One 2.5 running shoes. Saturday was one of the first really cold days this winter. Somehow, I forget how to dress myself for cold temps every.single.year. I had no idea what to wear and did not actually decide for sure until that morning. To add to the fun, I'd been having issues with my ankle for about 3 days. I have no idea what caused it or what it was, but my Friday shake out run had me worrying about a potential DNF. Beer Geek and I got up early to get ready. We both put on all the layers … [Read more...]
Five for Friday: Closing out January
January was a rough month. The weather was mostly awful, with a few days of beautiful thrown in. My kids had days off and delays and snow days and holidays... I seriously felt like they were with me more than at school this month. It's not that I don't love my children, but I get a lot less done when they are around. Quite happy to be closing the door on this month! January in Five Pictures 1. It snowed. Not a lot at any one time, but often enough to mess with the streets and delay or close schools. I had a very blonde moment when I couldn't figure out how to put my Honda Pilot into 4WD. Turns out it does it on its own... 2. I ran a lot of miles on the treadmill. In fact, this was my highest number of miles on the … [Read more...]
Yaktrax Review
Virginia is a Southern state. We don't get a huge amount of snow each year, but most years we get *some* snow. (Some years we get walloped, but that's a topic for another post...) I have an older pair of Yaktrax Run that I think was sent to me to review. Maybe. Probably. Who knows... Anyways, I've had them for a couple of years and every time I need them, I'm so happy to have them. 'Cause, even with a treadmill in the basement, sometimes I just need to run outside. (Yes, I realize it wasn't that long ago when I stated I wasn't bada$$ enough to run outside in the cold weather. Sometimes you just have to.) According to the company: The Yaktrax Run is an ice traction device anatomically designed for use with running shoes. … [Read more...]
13 random things Thursday
My life seems to be going in 1000 directions at once and 13 is my favorite number, so... 1. Yesterday I spent my entire day in snow pants. I put them on early in the day to shovel snow and just never took them off. Why? Because my drafty old house does not do well with wind chills below zero. 2. It appears that I got the job I interviewed for last week. At least HR thinks so. I have an appointment next week to fill out paper work, but I haven't been contacted by the department I'll work for, so I'm not exactly sure what I've been hired for LOL. 3. I bought a new torture device at the running store last week - the Foot Log. I've had issues with my forefoot for quite some time now + plus my feet are getting kind of tired of all … [Read more...]
WIAW + slow cooker recipe
Every year, I suffer through Virginia's summers. 90+ degrees with matching humidity = pretty much all of July and August + some of June and September. In exchange, Virginia usually delivers me a reasonably cold winter with not a lot of snow. Sometimes Virginia does not live up to her end of the bargain. Sometimes we get FEET of snow. Sometimes we have wicked cold weather. While we haven't had feet of snow this year, we've had a fair amount and we've had crazy cold weather. This week (after a Monday where the highs nearly hit 60!), we have both. Bring on the treadmill and the comfort food! I did 4.7 miles on the 'mill yesterday and will do around 6 today. Who knows when I'll feel safe running outside again. (Snow removal … [Read more...]
State #23: Oklahoma – Half Marathon 2 of 5!
Short story: I finished. Long story: Tuesday was the second day of the Dust Bowl Series. We ran on a concrete path around a small lake in Guymon, OK. The path was exactly one mile in length, so the half marathoners had to run 13 laps, with a small out and back at the end. Thankfully, they set us up with chip timing, so we had help keeping track. When I originally signed up for the Series, I was dreading the one mile loops. As it turned out, there was a lot of awesome to it. Beer Geek had food poisoning, so he took my picture before I left and then I caught a ride to the start with another runner. (I LOVE this part of the running community!) One of the first purchases I made when we got to the Dust Bowl area was a … [Read more...]
What I’m loving right now…
Ok, first and foremost the fact that the election is over. For the first time in MONTHS, my phone isn't ringing constantly. The silence is beautiful. (Seriously, living in a swing state and having both parties think you might vote for them = near constant calls. Some small part of me wanted to vote for the party that called me fewer times. ) No, what I'm really loving these days is the "halfzip". This might possibly be the best invention EVER! From late October until sometime in April, 90% of my runs will involve one of my halfzip tops. I am not a runner who feels the need to wear shorts and short sleeves once the temps drop. I just don't get that hot when I'm running (especially right now when most of my miles are run at an … [Read more...]
Just call me MacGyver
It's cold and windy here this week, but today it finally warmed up to the high 20s, so I decided it was time to get back outside. I still haven't gotten around to purchasing a warmer pair of running tights, so I've been wearing a pair of compression shorts under my old ones along with a heavy pair of Thorlo socks that come up to midcalf. This works reasonably well for keeping my legs warm, but today I needed to wear a pair of shoes that only fit thinner socks than the Thorlos. I was afraid that if I just wore my really thin, ankle high socks that I'd end up with really cold legs. I hate being cold. While digging around in my sock drawer, I found an old pair of knee highs. Aha! I cut off a few inches at the toes and pulled them up as high … [Read more...]
I am SO hardcore
I went running today in the snow. OK, so it was just flurries and well, there was no snow actually on the ground. And really, it was 36 degrees out, but still, I'm hardcore, right? (I can hear you northern girls snickering from here.) After two days of 33 degree rain, it was dry and sunny today AND a friend took Shoo for a couple of hours. I was planning a 4 mile tempo run, but I've been having some stomach issues and I had a raging headache, so I decided to just do an easy 3 miler. I felt better as I ran and did manage to do 4.5 miles at about a 9:30 pace, but it was definitely not a great run. I also tried to use my heart monitor and I couldn't get the band to "talk" to the forerunner. Not sure what the problem is. Even if I can get … [Read more...]
