Wednesday evening speedwork.

I'm not the best at speedwork and I'm OK with that.

Speedwork leaves me out of breath. It doesn't matter that I am only running half mile repeats a little slower than my 5k pace. Those repeats leave me out of breath. And dripping with sweat. It's a bit on the nasty side.

The schedule called for track repeats last night. Ha ha ha! No track for this runner. The 6 or so inches of snow, followed by the freezing rain that poured down on us yesterday, combined with the late hour meant I would not be running on a track. Who am I kidding? I haven't run on a track in years. It is likely that I will not run on a track until, perhaps, if I'm lucky, March. Maybe April. And it will be a big deal. I'll write about is ad nauseum, don't you worry.

Back to the workout: I ran the repeats on the treadmill. I actually prefer to play with my speed on the treadmill rather than trying to do a steady-state run. So, off I went.

My hammies felt tight when I started but they loosened up by the end of my warm up and they felt fine through the whole workout. In other words, I can't blame my lack of speedwork ability on my legs. It's all lungs. Or, maybe it is all in my head. Hmm . . . I wouldn't put it past that head of mine to set me up for a struggle. It's been known to do things like that. Silly head.

The good thing is that I got the speedwork done and it won't come around on the schedule again until next week.

So. That means I have another rest day today in preparation for tomorrow's tempo run and Sunday's 13 miler. If you get a chance, send some sunny, warm weather vibes my way for Sunday. Yes, I can handle 20 degrees but it would be so much better if the temperature rose to the 30s for my long run. Thanks!

Stinky!

I'm going to lay it all out there for you, Internet: My running clothes stink. Really stink. Stink as in people probably don't want to be around me when I have my running clothes on, even when the clothes are freshly laundered and I haven't yet begun to sweat. And when I do begin to sweat, well, that just releases all the trapped-in stinky stink and I feel a little like those people in the Southwest "Wanna get away?" commercials. Let's not even talk about what it is like after a run.

So I was excited when Runners' Lounge offered up samples of Penguin Sport-Wash for some bloggers to review. I waited for my sample. And I waited. With every day that passed, I grew increasingly convinced that my mail-lady had co-opted my sample because, I don't know, maybe her uniform was stinky? Lucky for me she hadn't. My sample arrived last week and I was practically giddy.

On Saturday, I put the detergent to the test with a week's worth of running and other workout clothes. My husband even brought his running clothes home (he runs during the day at work, lucky dude) so I tossed those in as well.

My initial observations: The Sport-Wash doesn't really smell. It has more of a non-scent smell to it. It's not detergenty, at least not in the Tide, All, or Arm & Hammer sort of way. Since it doesn't have a scent, it doesn't leave a scent on the clothes. I gave my clothes a good whiff after the wash and dry and they smelled like nothing. Most importantly, they didn't stink.

The real test would be how they smelled while out on a run. This test was a little trickier because I decided to do it while running in the cold on Sunday. About a mile into the run, I looked both ways to make sure the coast was clear, so to speak, and then I sniffed my top. Keep in mind my nose was cold and who knows how well my senses were working at that chilly point but, honestly, my top still smelled OK. Not like roses, but not like a stinky ol' gym towel either. The shirt smelled like nothing. And that's probably the goal.

All in all, I give the stuff a thumbs up. It's available at various retailers, and Amazon sells two bottles for $20.

Back to running: My legs felt a little tired yesterday. I stretched and used the foam roller (after I thoroughly enjoyed my enchilada, more guacamole than one person really should eat in a sitting, and a big honking margarita) so my legs feel fine today. I'll hit the treadmill for an easy run this evening and then speedwork tomorrow. Again on the 'mill. We're supposed to get 5-8 inches of snow tomorrow. Bummer.

Long run shake up.

I had 11 miles on the schedule this weekend and after skipping last weekend, I was determined to get it in. Determined.

On Saturday, I had a morning meeting so I was able to get a good sense of the weather for my run. That is, I felt the stinging wind chill as I walked from the meeting to my car. Using my rudimentary meteorological skills, I observed that although the temperature was hovering above 20 degrees, the wind chill was more like -83. It was a wonder there was anyone outside at all, as blustery and cold as it was. Maybe they were lured by the going out of business sale at Circuit City. Who knows?

All I know is that there was no way I was running outside in that wind. That cruel wind. So, I hopped on the treadmill for an easy 4 miles and that was that.

The forecast for Sunday was sunny and cold; colder than Saturday so I resigned myself to a sloggy treadmill run in the afternoon. Let me admit that I was not looking forward to 11 miles in my basement. Let me also admit that once I'm faced with a plan gone awry, I can be a bit of a Big Defeatist. Not getting outside for the run on Saturday had me convinced that I would, perhaps, never run outside again, or at least not until April, which was surely going to set me up for some sort of horrific injury once my delicate feet hit the asphalt after months on the 'mill. It went on from there. I'll spare you my spiral of self pity.

My husband, however, can shake a gal right out of that spiral. He took Conal to run errands in the morning and when they got back they did something very odd: They played outside. For a long time. Oddballs. At one point, Owen came inside and told me the weather was perfect for a run. "Ha!" I thought, "it's 19 degrees! As if I would run outside in that weather. Pshaw! Crazy husband."

He urged me to join them outside. I (reluctantly) did. He was right.

The sun was shining. There was very little wind. I had to do it.

And I did. I bundled up and hit the roads. It was colder than promised. And windier. But it was sunny! It took a long time for me to warm up, though. In fact, I don't think I warmed up until about 3 hours after I finished the run. Really. I was cold. I even had to run for a while with my left hand on my cheek because the cruel, cruel wind was too much for the two inches of exposed skin to take.

Other than the cold issue, it was a great run. I ran 11.07 miles in 1:45:21, or 9:32/mile, just where I wanted to be. My goal marathon pace is 9/mile and I'm targeting 30 seconds slower per mile for my long runs. It felt good to hit the right pace and, honestly, it felt really good to be outside. You know, all that vitamin D that I was absorbing had to be a good thing. Well, it probably wasn't all that much, since the sliver of exposed skin was covered in sunscreen. But, still! It was more vitamin D than I get in the basement.

Today is a rest day and I will be enjoying a much-deserved night out for Mexican yumminess with a friend. Can't wait!

Happy Monday!

Photo Friday

Yay, it's Friday! And, I'm in for Nikemom's Photo Friday this week.

Now, as you know because I have whined about it several times in the past, we have to worry about the cold up here. But that doesn't mean we forsake fashion. Oh, no. We're concerned about all things sartorial. We want to be hip and cool and with it. So, this week, my Little Jobber has a question for you:

"Do these gloves make my hands look too big?"

"Really, be honest."

He loves to wear my gloves and my running shoes. And my regular shoes. I guess he likes things loose and comfortable.

Anyway, enough about the Little Jobber (you can read all about him here, if you are ever interested). I had a totally blah, cruddy run last night but, whatever, I'm not going to dwell on it. Instead, I'll dwell on some of the good stuff. Like this weather. It's significantly better today (thanks for asking, BR!); the sun is shining and it's in the high 30s right now. Woo hoo!

Have a terrific weekend, everyone!