Planned for 20 but pleased with 12



Reporting back on our  "dreaded 18 miles" two weeks ago; It actually went pretty good.  Sorry that I've been super busy and too swamped to let you know how it went.  Angie and I decided that given the wind, a point-to-point run was better than trying to run out and back, or a large circle mainly on open country roads.  So, wind at our back it was!  Angie (the funny girl that she is) mentioned that she thought we were cheating by running with the wind at our back most of the run!  Ummmm... Running 18 miles in 5 degree weather w/ negative temps due to the wind chill is NOT cheating. . . no matter what  you do! 

Our 18 miler, while not simple because it's still 18 miles went pretty well, we are still facing terrible weather.  Angie and I agreed today that it's starting to decrease our "excitement" for running right now.  It's certainly not going to stop us, but it sure takes the joy out of something we love.  I'm glad we have had enough decent weather running experience to continuously remind ourselves why we are out running through this ridiculously cold winter.

I've been asking myself this a lot lately.







It seems that when I am leading up to a long run in bad weather, I obsess and stress about it.  After a night of tossing and turning along with running nightmares, we set out for another long run this  morning.  Our goal was 20 miles.  Only one other time have we cut our mileage short (planned the day of, or the day before --and that also was weather related).  Today, we headed out and ran into the wind, 30 mph winds mind you, for the first two  miles.  Before we even hit 1.5 we both said, 20 just isn't going to happen today!  Have you ever run directly into 30 mph winds?  If so, how far did you go?  It might have been one of the most miserable running experiences of my life.  Very seldom do we start a run without talking.  Usually, our silent miles are towards the end when we are completely exhausted and just need to finish.  When you start your run off in complete silence, you know it's just not the day for a 20 miler.

Normally, I would be disappointed with running 12 out of a planned 20 miler, but honestly, I feel great.  I feel like we pushed ourselves to get out and run on a day when cars were having difficulty because of high winds.  We went outside and ran when it would have been much nicer to watch TV with a hot cup of coffee and some trash TV (at least that is what I'd do with my time!)  I was extremely tired after 12 miles, which proves we had to put forth a ton of effort to get those miles in.  We also ran a lot of hills, so we certainly had a tough run and that contributed to my exhaustion.  If the forecast would have been better tomorrow or Sunday, we would have switched our plan, but the weather just is not cooperating right now.

Next week is a planned cut back week, and despite running 12 versus 20 today, we are going to stick to our plan of a cut back week next week.  We have some speed work planned for Sunday, so that will give us another challenge!  While running today, we discussed the concept of having to cut a run short.  Angie and I are both very dedicated individuals that stick to a plan at all costs.  We weren't disappointed today because we still had a tough workout and ran more than 1/2 of our intended miles despite awful conditions.  Not going out to run at all would have been failure, but we still did what we could without hurting ourselves.  We have plenty of time to be trained for the 50k and our first marathon, so a tough 12 today was certainly enough!

hahaha. .  love this!

 

 

 

Now, after an exhausting run, my weekend looks like this! Super fun!

 



 

Is anybody else getting burned out on winter running?  Honestly, I'm not sure how much more I can handle..... it's dumb!

~Brooke~