Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Week 5 - Of Cold and Colds

Sorry I am late with my post this week.  As the title of this post indicates, I have not been feeling my best, but more on that later!

LORI RUNS BOSTON MARATHON FUNDRAISER - SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8

Just a friendly reminder that tickets are on sale for my Marathon fundraiser on Sunday, February 8  
from 2-4pm at the American Fresh Taproom in Assembly Square, Somerville. 

For more info and to buy tickets, click here.

There are going to be some really super raffle prizes up for grabs including:

Oh My Gosh It's Cold

Unless you happened to be on vacation somewhere lovely over the past week, I don't need to tell you how insanely cold it's been.  Not only did the weather put a deep freeze over the city, but it managed to do it to my training too.  I had every intention of getting a run in on Monday after work, but in the 3 minute walk from my bus stop to my house the wind was so cold and hard tears were running down my face.  I'm just not hard-core enough to turn around and go for a run in that kind of weather.  Thus a new rule of my training has been born - NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT MY GYM STUFF.

If I had the forethought to bring my gym bag just in case, I could have just gone right to the gym after work and pounded our 4 miles on the treadmill.  Instead, it was a night wasted.

One thing I can say my running has taught me is how to dress for the cold!  When I woke up on that lovely -1 degree morning, I had a plethora of base layers to choose from to brave my hour-long morning commute that consists of two buses and a train! 

This week was kind of a perfect storm of weird odds and ends that kept me off-focus and it wasn't all temperature related.  I am temping at a job to make up ground from the expensive holidays and that keeps me out until 8pm twice a week - nixing runs on those two day (it's only for the month of January so I'll get those days back soon enough). 

On top of that, I am so excited to be taking a trip very soon that required me to purchase a ball gown.  Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't had to purchase a gown since high school and it's been a solid 15 years since I graduated so I needed to go shopping! For all the fellas out there that think it's not a big deal to buy a dress, here's the thing - you have to buy a dress and the shoes before you can go to the tailor and get it hemmed (unless you're amazingly tall and don't need to worry about that kind of thing) and the tailor needs a good 8-10 days to get everything done so TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!  Long story short, I needed a gown and I needed to get it this week to ensure that it was ready to go in time for my flight to New Orleans (more on that trip in future posts).

Oh My Gosh I Have a Cold

Onto the third and final element of my perfect storm of bad training this week - I got sick.  Like coughing, runny nose, wheezing, disgusting sick.  And it hit me on a Thursday, in perfect time to thwart my week 5 long run - yep - just after having bragged last week about not having missed one.  That's what I get, I suppose.

My new jacket!
I did run through the sickness twice - three miles on Saturday from Harvard Square home and three miles on Sunday as part of the Slumbrew Happy Soles group run (next one is on February 8 - same day as my fundraiser - if you'd like to join!).

Let me back up a second before talking about my runs this week (I suppose there's not much to say give their brevity, but still) and allow me to sing the praises of TJ Maxx.  Seriously, guys.  I get the majority of my running gear from TJ Maxx and it's always so affordable.  I snagged this super warm, awesome jacket there this week when I was on my dress hunt for only $25 - AND IT HAS POCKETS!  I have no idea why all running jackets don't have pockets.  I feel like I am trying to stuff the entire world into the tiny pocket in my running pants and it's uncomfortable AND unflattering so when I find jackets with pockets I rejoice.


 I also saw that they had KT Tape for only $8 a roll.  I have never used KT Tape before, but given the odd state of my knees I thought I would buy a roll and see if it's legit or some master scam.  YOU GUYS - THE STUFF IS AMAZING.  My right knee had been bothering me - probably from overcompensating when my left knee was down and out - so I watched the tutorial online and taped it up on Saturday in anticipation of my evening run.  The change in how my knee felt was virtually automatic. I don't know how it works, and quite frankly I don't care - all I knew was that I needed to go get more before it was all gone.  I bought two more rolls from TJ Maxx on Sunday morning.

Saturday Run
I worked my temp job in Harvard Square on Saturday until 5pm and my desire to get home and watch the rest of the Patriots game was sufficient motivation for me to run home (faster than the MBTA by far). So I wore my awesome new jacket and my nice warm Brooks running pants and ran the 3.5 miles home.  Between lack of running all week and my cold, it was a tough few miles.  I could breath fine, which I was nervous about, but I was SO TIRED.  It really sapped all my energy and I knew a long run on Sunday was not in the cards for me this week.  Also, I didn't realize when I planned this jaunt home that there was going to be snow and ice on the ground.  It wasn't much, but when your knees are questionable the last thing you want to do is slip.  I have some running YackTrax headed their way in the mail so this won't be a problem for much longer.


Sunday Run
Instead of doing a long run, I went to Assembly Row and did the monthly 5k with the Slumbrew Happy Soles.  I really like running with these folks.  Everyone is friendly and as someone who is kind of shy and easily intimidated in these environments, it's important that a running group be relaxed, fun and welcoming. I hope you'll join the group on the next run on Feb. 8 at 11am - and stick around for my fundraiser at 2 :) I actually felt better (in terms of my running anyway) on Sunday.  I think the fact that it was 20 degrees was great motivation to move FAST. I managed to run the route with a 9:16 min/mile as opposed to the 10 minute mile on Saturday.  I was, however, totally spent when it was over.

You might have noticed I tracked my Saturday run on Runkeeper and my Sunday run on Map My Run and the reason is based entirely on being able to get a GPS signal.  For whatever reason, I couldn't get a signal on Sunday with Runkeeper and could with Map My Run so I used that one.  Thank goodness for so many phone apps since I opted to leave my watch at home!

Thanks as always for reading, folks!  If you'd like to donate to my fundraising efforts, please click here and make a donation to my Crowdrise page!  I am only about $1,300 away from reaching my $5,000 minimum goal so any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Until next time!

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