Just run-commutes so far this week. Just haven't been into a proper run, although on this morning's run-commute, at 3am in a coupla inches of fresh snow, I got the urge again. So probably tomorrow. I thought about getting in a few extra miles on my way to the office, but my stubbed toe's met still feels a little sore, which is surprising, considering how minor the stub was. I guess it was really dumb running 10 miles after I stubbed it. But really, I'm just using the lingering soreness as an excuse to take some time off I think. If I were more gung-ho I'd definitely be running on it more.
Got in a MINT session early this morning. I love box jumps and medicine ball tosses! Actually, I hate them, because it's a fair amount of mental effort, but I know this sort of conditioning has been a missing element in my fitness routine. I feel more spry already.
On one of my run-commutes, Wed aft, I ran home bare in slush and slushy compacted snow and got mild frostnip again. The temp was mid 20sF, or about -4C. I'm kinda learning how far I can push it in moisture. It's such a different animal, and I'd like to gain greater mastery over it. In dry cold, the numbing down is more gradual and predictable, but in moisture you can get yourself into trouble real quick. My toes felt hot and painful for a while after I got back, then yesterday they felt a little crispy, but today they're mostly fine. So, apparently, really minor frostnip is manageable.
It's been a good week so far for weights.
Tuesday: chest and bi's. First time I pushed the bench press in a while.
Wednesday: deadlifts and push presses. I'm trying push presses instead of straight shoulder presses to see if I can alleviate a little stress on my left shoulder, which is still a little sore. I've been keeping the deadlifts at sub-max for the last several weeks, but I think next session I'll be able to start pushing it again. My knees feel fine and the weight feels too easy.
Thursday: squats, good mornings, and calf raises. I'm still loving the overhead squats, and my back squats are starting to develop some real power. Still, the squats are probably a year behind my deadlifts. It was about a year ago that my deadlifts starting feeling pretty comfortable. I normally blow off my calf raises, but since I haven't been running that much, I figured I should make up for it a bit.
Friday: in addition to this morning's MINT session, I'll do a heavy back st session at the end of the afternoon. I can already feel it coming on.
Running and weight-lifting are definitely yin-yang for me. They're perfect complements, but it seems when one is going poorly, the other goes extra well. Still, the more I do weights, the more I want to run, and the more I run, the more I want to do weights. They both contribute to that fine fitness effervescence. The last few weeks my body's felt sluggish, for both running and lifting, but I think this lingering attitude of lassitude is dissipating at last.
If I do end up getting in a mezzo-to-macro run tomorrow, I'll still be under 20 miles for the week, which means it will be just about impossible to reach 1000 miles on the year. Kinda sucks, but perhaps the toe-stubbing and December's Arctic blast were Mother Nature's way of getting me to divorce myself completely from numerology and bow down to her more earthly, more embodied powers and rhythms. Or not.
In any case, the break from longer runs, and the lost chance at 1000mpy, has me thinking about trying something new, like running every morning for 3-4 miles, and forgoing longer runs for a month or two, just to see what that's like. I have noticed than whenever I run 6 miles or less, my body feels much less beat-up, and recovery is fairly immediate and I don't really need to stretch or massage that much. Could be a suggestion to one disposed to a listen-to-your-body sensibility. Or not again.
Got decommissioned for four days by weather and other stuff, but got out running last evening after work. Started out in shoes on the park loop because it was a mess of packed ice and slush over 90% of it. But I also kind of noticed that the parking lot was snow and ice-free, although there was salt residue. Still after 2 park loops I went back to the car and took off the shoes. Then went running up and down the parking lot for about 2.6 miles. The barefoot running felt wonderful compared to the shoes. So much more alive.
The one drawback was the salt residue. Tenderized my feet a bit and the balls of my feet near the pinky toes feel a bit sensitive tingly this morning still.
Yeah, I hear you. The pleasures of bare are such that it can be worth it in the winter to just run back and forth on one of the few available patches of dry, relatively saltless asphalt or concrete. That's what I plan on doing as soon as a suitable patch melts through. January's long-range forecast is looking very favorable to doing just that, up in the fairgrounds. I just haven't been able to get into running in shoes so far this season, which has contributed to my taking a few weeks off from 30mpw-running, along with the aforementioned sloth and stubbing.
just been sleeping today.
