Saturday, February 11, 2023

Staying Upright

You probably won't be surprised by this revelation: this is not my favorite time of year. As a devoted outdoor runner, late winter poses a struggle to find a satisfying place to run. While I love the growing warmth of the sun, the freeze/thaw cycle makes for treacherous conditions. In anticipation of my upcoming trail race in April, I need to start building miles again and climbing hills. Ideally, that would be on the trails, but for the next couple of weeks at least, I think I'll be lacing up my road shoes. I'm not complaining--it is what it is. But I can't help but be a little envious of runners who live in places that don't have ice! 


Weekly Rundown
Sunday: trail run 6.25 miles
Monday: CrossFit
Tuesday: Pool Running
Wednesday: trail run 5 miles
Thursday: Strength training
Friday: treadmill run 6 mile
Saturday: rest

Running

I was excited to meet up with the Trail Sisters for our weekly outing, this time at Moraine Hills State Park, near where I grew up. With warmer temperatures, I wasn't sure what the trail conditions would be like, but they were just perfect with packed snow. I was also excited to meet a fellow Run Happy Team member, who lives in the area and came to run with us! We didn't plan it, but we were both wearing our Run Happy caps. We ran a nicely paced 6-ish mile with a couple of the other women. This trail took us along the river out to the dam, where I used to kayak with my high school friends. What a fun morning!


When I laced up on Wednesday, I was oh so optimistic that the trails would be covered with packed snow. Even mud would have been ok. I found out very quickly that most of that snow had thawed and refrozen as ice. This was a frustrating experience as I made my way around the preserve. I'd start running on a patch of crunchy snow or bare ground and have to skid to a halt when the path quickly turned to ice. This was the pattern for the entire run. Somehow, I managed to get 5 miles out of this. I chalked it up to agility training. 


After a day of heavy rain on Thursday, the temperatures dropped and the wind picked up. Taking Friday's run to the TM was an easy decision. With my new, bright workout space, I'm finding the TM a little less torturous!

CrossFit/Strength Training

I wasn't sure I wanted to do the WOD on Monday, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? The skill portion was focused on double under practice. My brain just cannot compute double unders. I tried doing the skill building portion, doing penguin taps and then jumping while swinging the rope next to me. Double under are just not going to happen. Alternating with that, we did 10 v-ups. The MetCon was all about wall balls. This was a 16 minute AMRAP of 12 cal on the bike alternating with wall balls using perfect form. I ended up with 80 wall balls and I rode 60 cals on the bike. It was definitely spicy!

Thursday's strength session started off with two lower body exercises: a hamstring movement using a resistance band ( I don't remember what SJ called it) alternating with hip flexor openers while holding onto the parallel bars. For upper body work, I did push presses, sets of 5 alternating with delt flys, sets of 10. I had done my shoulder exercises prior to meeting with SJ and with proper positioning during the upper body work, my shoulder was pretty quiet! I was excited to hit 75# on my final set of push presses, although my arms failed on lift #5. SJ was excited about it too! I finished up by hanging from the bar to stretch out my shoulders and did 4 sets of 10 scap pulls alternating with ab mat situps, 25 per set.

And yes, this was rep #4 and I fought for it!

Off the Road...

Or should I call it an injury update? The shoulder continues to improve but it sure does protest when I do my PT work. I am glad to see progress though! As I become more aware of my body positioning, my strength work is becoming more effective too. Also, if you recall that toothache from a few weeks ago, I had the tooth pulled and a bone graft done on Thursday. I saw a new oral surgeon who I loved--seriously, I was in and out in about 45 minutes. He even said I could run on Friday. Once it heals, I'll return for the next step in the implant process. 

On Saturday, we took a ride up to the lake. The weather could not have been more perfect for this time of year! We went to Madison to have lunch with my Badger at The Great Dane. After lunch, we took a ride over to the Memorial Union to check out Winterfest. They set up a Statue of Liberty on Lake Mendota. I've always wanted to see it and with the perfect conditions, we couldn't pass it up! We're going to miss Madison after he graduates.



How was your week? Is anyone else battling the freeze/thaw cycle? Any injury updates? What did you do this weekend?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. 




34 comments :

  1. Yes the trails are treacherous to say the least! Ugh. Maybe with our warm weekend the ice will melt. I'm a little sad about the impending college graduation here as well. Sigh.

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  2. That statue of liberty is really cool and creative! ice is the worst and so treacherous. Sounds like a good idea to stick to the trails. I can't believe what a mild winter we have had here. I hope the conditions are good when I visit you in 2 weeks!

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    1. They have been doing this for years! It started out as a styrofoam model, but now it's an inflatable.

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  3. First off, that statue is awesome! I have not been a huge trail runner because of my ongoing ankle instability issues. I've always been envious of people who could run safely on the trails. It always looks so relaxing. The weather is hard this time of year. You know, you're almost through winter, but you're not. It'll be spring soon enough.

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    1. You nailed it about the weather, lol! That's the cruelest thing about this time of year. You know we aren't done yet.

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  4. Ugh, ice. Have you noticed I've stopped complaining about the weather here? I would just shrivel up and die if I lived up north right now, so I'm embracing the Florida heat.
    I'm glad you got in one good trail run this week! And your strength training sounds awesome as usual. My shoulder has also been bothering me, but it's getting better (I noticed I could sleep on my right side last night, which I hadn't been able to do for a few nights.) It's always something!
    Madison is a great city- yes, I'm sure you'll miss it.

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    1. Sounds like we are sharing the same injury, lol! I hope it moves on quickly.

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  5. We had a major thaw/refreeze situation on the bike path yesterday. It's paved, with segments of asphalt, but there are plenty of sections that are sloped (so the melting snow leaves a lot of erratic puddles). It was a challenging obstacle course, and really kept us guessing as to where the slick spots were.

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    1. I saw a lot of that on the roads up at the lake this morning on my run! It's definitely my least favorite thing about this time of year.

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  6. Sounds like you need to come thaw out in my neck of the woods. Yesterday was postcard perfect, light winds, blue skies, about 45 degrees. Our trails are messy because of all the rain, but I still prefer them over roads.

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  7. To answer your questions, since we have only had a dusting of snow which melted within a few hours we haven't had to worry about any freeze/thaw cycles. It's usually an issue, but this year has been different. I've had some tingling in my right leg/foot, so I didn't run this past week. We had a fun weekend visiting Pablo who now lives in Charlotte, NC!

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    1. It's crazy that you haven't had more snow than that! I hope your foot calms down.

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  8. I absolutely LOVE that statue! Ice is absolutely terrifying. You are really brave to be out there. Glad your dental experience went well. This is my reminder to make my dentist appointment. Ugh.

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  9. I'm glad there is no ice on our trails, but I really do miss all of the white stuff already! I'm not sure we'll be getting any more snow, which isn't great because we wanted to go skiing again locally. That might now happen now!
    That's great your tooth appointment went so well!

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    1. I feel the same as you do about the lack of snow this year, at least in the Chicago area. Thankfully, they've had a little more up north!

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    2. So is Lady Liberty sinking or emerging? ;-)
      We had a warm week so no ice around here, but it did sleet for an hour this morning before turning to rain.

      A good oral surgeon is a gem for sure! Glad the procedure didn't sideline you.

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    3. You pose a very good question! I guess it depends on who you ask :p

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    4. That Statue of Liberty is awesome.
      I can't believe how much ice and snow you have. Nuts.

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    5. We don't have much here in Chicago, but up north in Wisconsin, yes!

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  10. Great job on those push presses! I'm still in awe by how much weight you can lift!
    Those double unders are something else. It's so hard to coordinate the wrist and the feet!
    I'm now at a stage where I can do one double under and two singles for about 15 seconds. I googled penguin taps - are these to help with the rhythm?

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    1. Yes, supposedly! That's impressive that you can do one. I just don't think my brain works like that!

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  11. You have all my sympathy about the ice. Honestly, if I still lived in Sweden, I wouldn't have dreamed of becoming a runner because so much of the year would be, in my opinion, un-runnable (ok I know it's not a word, lol). Well done doing the 5 miles in those conditions. I'm glad to hear your shoulder is treating you somewhat well.
    Here we are so blessed with the temperate climate and that ice is very rare. I had a good week when I started running again but I'm confused about how I should set up my getting-back-to-it program. My trainer's attitude is mostly "just run but take it easy"!

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    1. I personally love using run/walk intervals to return to running after time off. As you get stronger, you can run more and walk less. I program my Garmin with the intervals which takes all the thinking out of it!

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  12. I can imagine the freeze/thaw cycle is a big problem on the trails - the roads here have been questionable some mornings.

    So glad to hear all went well with the dental surgeon!

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  13. I saw that Statue of Liberty photo on your FB! It kind of reminded me of Planet of the Apes.

    I hear you on the ice. No idea how the trails are, but the bike path seemed pretty clear -- and all the snow has melted from the lawn, too.

    So fun to meet up IRL with someone from your team!

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    1. Your comparison to Planet of the Apes makes sense, because the tradition started around then!

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  14. Although we haven't gotten a lot of snow this Winter, sometimes we do get a lot of ice in the mornings which always makes me nervous leaving the house for class, lol. The other day I cam thisclose to completely busting my butt on the pavement.

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    1. That is what keeps me inside on the TM on those early morning runs!

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  15. Ugh, the darn melt/refreeze...so annoying especially when the temps are more moderate but its so icy! Glad your new treadmill set up is suiting you well.

    I don't think i could ever do double unders...!

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    1. I don't know why they make us try! I just think some of us aren't wired that way.

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