Up with the Sun

Sunday morning - 2 miles in, the sun decides to join me.

The butthead phone in question.

The week in terms of exercise has been a rocky one, to say the least.  I'm still struggling with cold congestion, runny nose, and coughing which, of course, don't adhere themselves well to exercise.  That, and it was really friggin' (fraking, gol'darn, gorram, smurfing, etc.) cold.  My greatest disappointment this week was actually the inability of my phone camera to work in the sub-zero temperatures to capture icicles hanging off my eyelashes, eyebrows, and hat this past Thursday after a shortened run.  While I could be proud that I was out there in that temperature, how often do you get to take that picture?  (I guess if this winter is anything like last winter, that would occur several times a week until mid March).

Due to the temperature, though, I was still forced to cut my Thursday 6 miles to 4 which I guess in the long run won't make a horrible difference.  But it still feels like cutting corners, even when I have frost hanging from my exposed facial hair and I'm concerned that my face may soon be an ice cube to later be removed by hospital staff and replaced with a white plastic mask a la Phantom of the Opera (my mind wanders when I run a little).

We also had a wonderful time in the house this week (read with heaviest sarcasm possible) as our furnace decided that now would be the perfect time to grab all the moisture in the air and deposit it back into itself until it could spew it all forth unto our carpet.  The point of note here, by the way is that motivation to get out and exercise in any manner is reduced when you have to get up every two hours at night to empty a small Tupperware container which is the only thing preventing your living room from becoming the northern site of the Everglades.  Long story short, my Saturday rest-day was very much appreciated.

And then there was Sunday.  This morning brought on my first long run in the marathon training plan.  It was a slow 8 miles which I've done many times before, so I wasn't too concerned.  It wasn't too fast, but that was as required.  My target pace was supposed to be around 10min/mi which I was pretty good with.  And it was about 30 degree warmer than the icicle-laced Thursday run.

My biggest concern with winter long runs is in my form.  Every year that I've been a runner I've developed injuries in the Spring.  I have a natural inclination to not use my left leg very well.  My right is easily stronger and I almost limp my way through runs.  My right leg propels me forward and my left leg passes time until the right leg can move me forward again.  I'll talk more about that whole thing at a later time, but what happens in winter is that this method of running gets worse.  With snow on the ground, my eyes look straight in front of where I am and my posture sags (not that it's great to begin with), I slow my step speed to ensure that I have firm footing, and I land my footfalls on my heals as I slow my pace (a major no-no to the uninitiated).  Long story short, I tend to spend a decent amount of time with physical therapy in early-mid March.  With my first marathon scheduled, this makes me worried as it does every year.  It's led

On top of continuing some of the physical therapy exercises I've picked up over the years, I've been watching some Youtube videos on running form like this one and this one and am trying out some of the exercises. And add in some major foam rolling and I'm spending more time trying to get better running than actually running.  Let's hope the combined efforts of all involved prevent me from ending up on the sidelines again. *fingers crossed*