Wintertime Blues

I've never really hated winter.  I've gotten sick and tired of it to the point of strong dislike, but I'm not a cold-weather hater.

On the contrary, since taking up running I see it as an opportunity to put some major mileage in without worrying about dehydration.  And snow is a little easier to be out in - I'm not sure why, once it melts you're just as wet, but if it's snowing out it doesn't give me as much pause as when it's raining and I'm planning a big (or even a small) trail run.

But this winter the weather has gotten a little out of hand.  Trails are still runnable under 5, 6, maybe even 10 inches of snow. 

They are not runnable under 22 inches of snow which we got on Friday and Saturday.  In fact the roads are barely runnable.  At lunch today I did most of my run in the driveway/parking lot of my office (which is about a 1K loop) because it became quite clear to me that it was nearly suicide to run out on the roads today (despite the roads being generally clear).  And we've got more coming tomorrow. 

 

Not only has my ability to run now been challenged, but also the will. It's hard to run in snow weather you're on the trail on on the road.  And it's probably even harder to do a long run on a treadmill (at least mentally).  But I've got two long runs left before Chambersburg, and chances are we'll have a melt off before the last one so I'm sticking with it.

But this winter has definitely made me rethink my winter training strategy.  Maybe time on the trainer isn't so bad after all.  I just need to invest in some good DVD's.

Written Off

This week has been pretty much a full write-off training-wise.  Beth got sick late last week, but it really got full-blown on Sunday.  I had to take over baby duties to keep Adele away from those (very) nasty germs.  So I was the one who fed her, put her to bed, got up with her in the middle of the night, took her to daycare and picked her up from daycare.  

Here's her eating some oatmeal and bananas on Sunday.  Beth read somewhere that if you give a baby a cracker or teething biscuit (Adele has some all-natural teething biscuits that her Aunt Jamie made her) that it will keep her from grabbing the spoon when you try to feed her.  But you can't exactly get the spoon in her mouth if the teething biscuit is in the way.

And yes, that's banana on her eyebrow.

So you can bet I wasn't about to get up extra-early to get any strength training in.  But the running was still going on schedule, and I got my 14 miles in on Saturday and my 40 minutes on Monday.  Then on Wednesday my lunch time was swallowed up from taking Beth to urgent care and to the pharmacy to fill her prescription.

No big deal, the flexibility in the Galloway plan meant  I could still run on Thursday and just take Friday off before running on Saturday.

Then late Wednesday night it hit.  An upset stomach.  I noticed it coming on before I went to bed, so I ate a Clif Bar thinking that maybe I was just getting hungry since I had such a light lunch.  But when I got up with Adele during the night it wasn't getting any better and come morning I knew there was no way I was going to work.  I had trouble just sitting up without getting nauseous.

Fortunately, Beth was on the mend so she took over baby duties while I laid in bed until 2 PM.  Then after sitting in front of the TV for 45 minutes realized I couldn't yet sustain a sitting position without my stomach revolting I went back to bed where I stayed until about 7:00 PM. 

So at the very least my Wednesday (turned Thursday) run was a write-off.  And now it's snowing.  Lots.  All that was on the Galloway schedule was a 5K race for this weekend, so I'm thinking instead I'll use this time to fully recoup from that stomach bug, get some stuff done around the house and come back full strength on Monday.

What Exactly Am I Drinking?

This week has been a little crazy so far.  Beth has been sick, do I've assumed responsibility for all things baby.  So I take her to daycare, fill her bottles, change her diapers, get up when she needs to be fed in the middle of the night, etc.

I'm having a bit of trouble getting my timing down in the morning, so today I didn't have time to get my usual bowl of Crispix at home or even swing by McDonalds for a McGriddle.

When I got to work I scarfed down a Clif Builder's Bar to give me a little boost, but that proved not to be enough, so I headed downstairs to the vending machines to see if I could find some donuts or yogurt or something.

Fortunately, the machine we call "the wheel of death" (because you're taking your life into your own hands when you eat anything out of it) was stocked with cereal.  Cereal is one of four items that you can safely eat out of the "wheel of death."  The others are yogurt, Starbucks Frappaccino drinks (vanilla only) and Red Bull.  (I'm slowly getting over my issues with our vending machine supplier.)

So I bought a single-serving box of Cocoa Krispies.  And some 2% milk.  I'm usually a skim or 1% guy, but there wasn't any and you can't have cereal without milk (although that's pretty much what I did between the ages of 3 and 14).  The cereal of course only required about 1/8 of the bottle of milk, so I drank the rest.  Then I noticed something on the label.

It says "38% LESS FAT THAN MILK."

I thought that this was milk?  Wait...what exactly am I drinking?  Did the label say "2% Dairy Product?"  "2% Non-Dairy Creamer Water?"  "2% Mysterious White Liquid?"  I've noticed that sometimes they do that with "chocolate drink".

No.  It said "2% Milk."  How can a product have 38% less fat than itself?

14 miles, 20 degrees

I know, some of you out there don't find 20 degree Farenheit that cold.  And maybe a few years ago I didn't either.   But once the temperature drops below freezing there is a lot of give-and-take in distance running, trying to find that sweet spot when you're not too cold but also not soaked with sweat when you're done with a long run.

Yesterday the high temperature was 20 degrees here.  It will likely be the coldest day of the year.  (I just confirmed on weather.com that it was the lowest high temperature we've had yet this year.)  On the news they advised everyone to stay indoors unless you absolutely had to be outside.

I was scheduled for a 14-mile run, so I decided that meant that I absolutely had to be outside. 

I headed out at 1 PM when the temperature was 19-degrees.  Coincidentally that was the temperature on the bank sign in Boonsboro Maryland when I started the JFK 50 in 2008.  Except at the JFK it warmed up (somewhat) as the day went on.  Not so much yesterday.

Part of the Galloway program is that you do your long runs at least two minutes per mile slower than your goal pace for your half marathon or marathon.  Since I'll be shooting to run Chambersburg at about a 9:00/mile pace.  I needed to do my 14 miles at at least a 11:00/mile pace.  So I decided I would make this one of my fun runs; take some pictures and not worry about the clock.

The first photo-worthy scene I found was less than a mile from home:

 

That's a big yellow Peanut M&M and a diaper.  It looked like the diaper had fallen off the Peanut M&M.   I felt kind of bad for the Peanut M&M, being left on the sidewalk on such a cold day without it's diaper on.  Then I thought, who puts a diaper on a Peanut M&M?  (And, no I did not check the diaper for M&M Minis.)

I was feeling pretty warm the first half (maybe a bit less) of the run.  I even took the time to drop a middle layer at a park and pick it back up on my way home because I was feeling a little too warm.  I made my way through town maintaining and easy pace and taking walk breaks every nine minutes (true to Galloway form)

As I left town I found my second photo-worthy scene: 

 

That's a rubber glove with something red on it.  Let's call it finger paints.  It made me think of the Pearl Izumi ad I used to see in running magazines that asked "ever wonder why it's always runners who find dead bodies?"

One of the things I'm trying this year is not taking in any nutrition (except water) on my long runs.  Well, I tried it, and when I did 10 miles I bonked a little over an hour into it.  So for the last two runs I've taken just one gel with me and taken them at the halfway point.   So yesterday I was pretty thrilled when my GPS rolled onto the seventh mile and I got to take in a very cold vanilla bean GU.

I think I mentioned it was cold out.  How cold was it?  At mile eight the nipple on my water bottle froze, keeping me from getting any more out of that bottle.  Fortunately I was carrying two, and since no water has passed through the lid of the second that one was clear.  Until mile 10.5 when that one also became stopped up with ice.

It was also at that time that I got really hungry.  It was a little over two hours out, and I decided that I should be taking in a gel every hour or so.  I was so delirious with hunger and fatigue that I got a little spiritual and starting singing (mentally, not out loud - I didn't have enough spare energy) the hymn I Need Thee Every Hour.  (The Jars of Clay Version.) Except I replaced the word "thee" with "GU" and some other words.  It come out (if I were to sing it out loud that is, which I didn't) like this: 

I need GU every hour

Whene'er I run

I need GU every hour 

Or the end's not fun

I need GU, I need GU

Every hour I need GU

I need GU, I need GU

I need GU every hour.

I got over this at around mile 13 when my fingers started going numb.  I finished in 2:39 and as I entered the front door (I minor miracle that I was able to use the house key with no feeling my hands) I began contemplating a treadmill.  Or maybe I'll just start using thicker gloves when it gets below 23.

Some Pictures for My Friends

I was stumped as to what to post tonight.  There's not much to report on the training front.  Which probably means that my plan to make this a dedicated cycling/running blog has failed miserably.  Well, not miserably - but there is only so much to say when you are running only three times a week and maybe riding your bike (on the trainer because it is wicked cold and/or dark out) once a week.  Okay, I've ridden my bike once in the last month.

So where does one go for blog inspiration?  Your cell phone.  I browsed through my pictures and found a few that I think some people will enjoy.

For Jason & Heather:

Remember when we went to IKEA and I bought the bamboo?  This is from about a year ago (holy smokes we haven't seen you guys in a while!).  It's about a foot taller now.

For my father-in-law, Dave:

Beth and I saw this shirt at Old Navy and thought you'd get a kick out of it. 

For my brother, Tim:

 

Remember that snowman you made when you and Mom and Dad were up around New Year's?  This is it after a brief warm up.  I'm sorry to say, he didn't make it.

For Beth:

 

Actually, you could say that this is for anyone thinking of running the Pittsburgh Marathon.  Walking the Pittsburgh Zoo the next day is great recovery and they have an awesome polar bear exhibit.

For Beth again.  And pretty much everyone else:

 

Our girl with her sippy cup.  We were told she would probably just use it as a teether.  But she grabbed it and started sucking that apple juice down right away.  She's a genius.

Tricky Tricky...

Remember last week when I said I would be cutting back on the "fluff"?  Well, it's about to get all fluffy up in here!  (Now all I can think of is Gabriel Iglesias - "I'm not fat, I'm fluffy!")

I had one of those experiences where things pop up in different spots.  This time it was tricky marketing.

It started last weekend when Beth and I were doing some web-shopping for refrigerators.  Not that we're necessarily buying a fridge, but we may be in the next few months.  Maybe.  So anyhow, we basically just wanted to get an idea of price.  We were on Sears.com and saw this:

Notice the regular price.  Now compare the sale price.  Now subtract the sale price from the regular price.  Use a calculator if you have to.  What you don't need to?  Is that because the difference is only TWELVE CENTS?  A $850 refrigerator and they want you to think you're getting a deal because you got it for $0.12 less than MSRP.  That's a whopping 0.014% off!

Then Monday night after bowling I swung by Wegman's.  I needed some turkey for my lunch (I always pack a turkey sandwich) and some snacks for work (I like snacks).  Upon entering the store I saw this sign:

My phone was pretty much free with a two-year contract (from two years ago), so the picture is a little grainy.  But you may be able to make out the words "Seedless Grapes" and the price: $1.29/lb.  (You probably can't see "/lb." but you can trust me on this point.)  So I thought, hey that's a good price for grapes!  I went up there and the green ones were a little iffy but the red grapes looked pretty good.  So I bought a bag of red grapes.

When I was checking out, I noticed they rang up as $2.99 a pound.  I thought, "maybe that's because I didn't swipe my 'Shoppers' Club Card'.  So I swiped it, paid and checked my receipt on my way out.  Still $2.99 a pound.  I knew then that I needed to investigate this and went back and looked at the sign.

I know you can't read in the picture above the little word in white above "Seedless."  Right here:

That tiny word is "green."  Only the iffy green grapes were on sale.  Not the red ones that I thought were just picked over.  Tricky tricky Wegman's...