I couldn't avoid it any longer, as much as I had been trying to, today I had to go do my long run in sub zero temperatures. So far this winter, I had been very lucky with the weather in terms of my running schedule: most weekends there was at least one day with reasonable weather, no rain and temperatures well above freezing. This past weekend, we had 2 snow storms, some rain and then by Monday the temperatures plummeted to around -10C with a nasty wind. On Monday morning I was just unable to get out to run, I also had a long day planned in lab and wanted to go to yoga class in the evening, so I decided to push my long run back yet another day. I knew that if I didn't go out to do it today, it would be skipped. Tomorrow is the day of Christmas Eve and I have to get ready by the early afternoon to head out to New Jersey to my friend Kelsey's house for dinner. Also, if I want to do my next long run run around the weekend again, then I needed to get this out of the way to have at least 6 days to rest between them.
So I checked the weather forecast this morning: -1C as the high for the day, but perfectly sunny with no chance of rain or snow. For tomorrow, they forecasted rain and warmer weather. I would still rather run in cold dry weather than in the rain, so I piled on 4 layers (could barely move my arms), tried to warm up at home as much as I could, and headed out for my run. These days, I can't walk to the park as warming up, it's just too cold for that. I actually have to run faster until my hands and face stop feeling like they're about to fall off.
The goal for today was 12 miles (~19 km) which is 2 whole laps around Central Park. Usually I am nervous about the later parts of long runs, but I have recently realized that the first half is much worse than the second half. Knowing that I had just started and still have some 8 or 9 or 10 miles ahead of me is just a daunting thought, which is hard to forget about. What I love about these long runs is the meditative state that I sometimes - only happens on good days - manage to get into. I had no chance for this state of mind during the first lap: I was cold and struggling with the hills, doubting that I could even finish the one lap, and thinking to myself the whole time that the marathon was such a long shot and I would never be ready for it.
I took a break after the first lap, refueled, and started my second one in the opposite direction: maybe it's an optical illusion, but I think I like running counterclockwise more, maybe because the cars go that way too, maybe the hills are better positioned that way, I am not sure why. In any case, after stopping for about 5 minutes, I was freezing again, and had to do a pretty fast mile or so to warm myself, and then started feeling really great. I felt strong, light on my feet, I could speed up for the flats and downhills even if I was struggling with the hills, and ended up finishing in just under 2 hours. I didn't even stop until I got home to avoid getting cold again.
My leg is doing great; I have been stupidly ignoring my other leg though, and now that I have somehow realigned myself, I might be putting more of my weight on the "good" leg to protect the one that just healed. The result: my "good" leg is starting to give me some trouble. Oh, the balance, the balance!! When you think you have it, it seems to tip over to the other side! It's ok though, nothing like the full-blown shin splints I was having in my right leg. Now I know better too, and can hopefully prevent this from getting any worse. In any case, I need to take some days off and definitely at least a week before my next long run.
No comments:
Post a Comment