I Must Be Crazy

I just have to document some of my experiments in this pursuit to see what my body is capable of. First, I went running on Christmas day. It had been a couple of weeks since I had run outside so I was only planning on doing 3 or 4 miles. But it was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, the roads were quiet, the air was "inversion" free, and my kids were all happily playing Rock Band with Ryan. I had all the time in the world. So I went around the golf course again, a loop that ended up taking me about 7 miles. I got home and showered to warm up then set to work making dessert for Ryan's family's Christmas dinner. About halfway through I felt myself become lightheaded and could tell my legs were getting weak. I ended up on the floor. All I could do was whisper to Austin to go get Ryan who ran up the stairs and helped me get in bed. It was all pretty weird. I couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with me but I had a few suspicions. One, I didn't bring any water since I thought I was only going a short distance. I always bring water with me if I'm going over 6 miles. Second, it was a lot colder than I realized. I'm thinking my body temperature might not have come all the way back up after running in the cold for so long. And finally, I pushed myself too hard.

So, a few days later we took the kids sledding which was a lot of fun. After we got home Ryan decided to go running, while it was still snowing outside, to try out his new GPS watch I got him for Christmas. I was ridiculously jealous while he was gone so when he came back I went out. There was a good 2 or 3 inches of snow on the ground and it was still falling heavily. I didn't really enjoy the constant flakes flowing into my eyes but the rest of the experience was pretty amazing. I dressed a little warmer this time and headed down the hill. It was so quiet and peaceful with the snowfall muffling any sound that I decided to extend my run. I called Ryan and said I was going to go 4 miles instead of 3. Well, one interesting thing about running in snow is that your feet tend to slip around. For every step you take you probably slide back an inch or so which really slows you down. Then, the snow tends to accumulate on your hat and then melts from your body heat and drips onto your face, not so cool. And finally, the ice built up on my gloves which made it really hard to wipe my nose. Overall, it was an interesting experience. It took me over an hour to do a run that usually took me quite a bit less time. Ryan tracked my run for me after I got home, though, and we discovered I unknowingly went 4.8 miles instead of just 4. I made sure I took care of myself when I got home, though, with plenty of water to drink and a hot bath to make sure I totally warmed up. I'm learning.

Well, this week I decided I needed to be a little more proactive about training for a duathlon I signed Ryan and myself up for at the end of February. For the first time in my life I got up at 5 am three times this week to attend the cycling class at the gym. I had to get there early because there are so many people at the gym at that time that I had to reserve my bike or I wouldn't get one. I set my stuff down on the bike and ran a mile or so to warm up before the classes. Those classes are intense and I'm really hoping they'll do the job so I won't die when I try to ride 24 miles in February and run 6.

I also ran 5 miles on Tuesday morning. It was 10 degrees outside and even though I've learned some tricks about dressing warm I discovered those are tricks for 20 degree weather, not 10 degree weather. I warmed up really well when I got home but felt exhausted for the rest of the day.

I'm not sure how I feel about all these things I'm trying. They've all been challenging and pushed me beyond what I ever thought I could do and yet I don't feel like I'm ready for what I want to do yet, which is an olympic triathlon this summer. I have a new found respect for people who train year round and sometimes wonder if I'm just plain crazy to be doing this. But I'm not ready to give up yet. I guess I just prefer to be crazy.