Better, But Colder

This morning I had thought about getting up, braving the cold and running with Terrier. I woke up at 5:10 when my alarm went off, looked at the temperature of 29 and thought that it didn't sound too bad, but decided that it was too early, so I rolled over and snoozed for a while longer. I ended up getting out of bed around 6:00 right after Drew had left for the gym. He'd asked me if I'd see him there and I said yes.

When I woke up, I decided that I really would brave the cold and get outside for a run. I felt bad that I hadn't told him that I might run outside, but I figured he'd just think I was being lazy and sleeping and he wouldn't worry about me. I ended up wearing a tank top, long sleeved shirt, 2nd (warmer) long sleeved shirt, running tights, yoga pants, socks, gloves and running hat. Whew. That's a lot of stuff.

I decided to just start jogging from the corner of our block instead of walking to the park. I knew I'd warm up faster that way and it'd be a lot more enjoyable if I was warmer than if I was shivering and cold. My plan for today was supposed to be running 2 miles, intervals and then running 2 more miles. While I didn't do exactly that, I did come pretty close, so I'm really happy overall with the run.

I ran to the park and then ran once around the Lower Loop. I realized once I got to the 72nd Street Transverse that I could probably still have just met up with Terriers if I had run straight there, but by then it was just a little bit too late. Once I was finished with my lap of the Lower Loop, I did my intervals. I was certain that I was supposed to do 4 of them, so that's what I did. I guess that next time I should look at the training plan before I leave since I seem to have not remembered quite as well as I thought I had. I think I got today and Thursday mixed up. Oh well, at least I did some. Granted, I was supposed to do 5-7, but I think that doing 4 was close enough!

After I had done my 4 intervals, I took off for a second lap around the Lower Loop. When I first started, I was trying to tell myself that it would be okay to cut it short, but instead I managed to stick with it without stopping or even hating it at all. All in all, a pretty good success for a cold run. I think I was dressed just about perfectly for me. I never got hot but I wasn't cold either. Only certain parts (bottoms of my ears where my hat didn't cover and my rear end) really ever felt cold. I actually wore my cycling gloves instead of my running gloves and they were really nice and warm. I might have to do that again.

The intervals are SO much better outside than they are inside on a treadmill. I didn't love doing them, but I did really like to see if I could go the same distance faster than the one before outside. I'm really thinking that I'll have to remember this next time I'm supposed to be doing intervals (even if it is cold outside)!

In total I ended up running 4.51 miles today, which seems like progress from last Tuesday when I only did 3.50. I'm planning on mixing up this week's plan a little bit because Drew and I leave tomorrow night for Barcelona! We'll arrive there early on Thursday, the 14th and we return on the 19th. I know I won't feel like running on Thursday after flying through the night, so I'm planning on doing Thursday's run tomorrow. As for the weekend, I'm thinking that I'll most likely get runs in, but I'm not going to worry if I don't hit my mileage for this week. I know I'll be doing lots of other walking around during the day, so it should all even out in the end.

Run #1
Time: 24:11
Distance: 2.28 miles
Pace: 10:36/mile
Calories: 303
Maximum HR: 182
Average HR: 173

Intervals
Time: 3:44
Distance: 0.50 miles
Pace: 7:28/mile
Calories: 43
Maximum HR: 185
Average HR: 166

Run #2
Time: 17:43
Distance: 1.73 miles
Pace: 10:14/mile
Calories: 246
Maximum HR: 189
Average HR: 182