Motivated to Succeed

Tonight was the start of semester #3 of grad school. I can't believe that I'm that close to graduating :). Was nice to see a lot of the old faces from some of my other classes. I just hope I don't "burn out". Emmy went home today :(, but I'm going to her house this weekend so that's awesome :)! Hope everyone had a great Monday!

8:10 AM - This week in the northeast is going to be cold. And colder. And then even colder at night. Not cool. I decided after a successful class last night I would celebrate with my long run for the week this morning before my two classes tonight. I woke up around 7 and had a cup of coffee and a piece of toast and drove to the school. Temperature was between 15 and 20 I'd say with a slight 5-10 mph wind. Went out and back on Parkis and Crane, two roads I do a lot of my runs on primarily because I like the lack of traffic on them! Funny thing was when I got back to my car I actually got to laugh at how funny I looked. I was bundled in 3 layers on my legs, 3 on my torso, mittens and a hat. But the funny part was that I had icicles hanging from my glasses and all in my beard. I looked worse than Snoqualmie Ridge Runner's picture I think it was. I had neglected to keep my camera in my car last night because I didn't want the cold to zap the batteries, so the best I could do was take a photo with my camera, though I am technologically slow and don't have any text messages or anything so don't know if I can actually transfer the picture to my computer? All in all a really fun run. Splits were:

• Mile 1: 9:10
• Mile 2: 8:57
• Mile 3: 8:41
• Mile 4: 9:06 (big hill)
• Mile 5: 8:43
• Mile 6: 8:35
• .6: 4:55 (8:11)

Total Time: 58:09 Total Distance: 6.6 mi Average Pace: 8:48

11:00 PM - Found a fortune cookie on the oven when I got home just now from school. I opened it and read it. I will try to live up to this "fortune" in 2009: "Ambition has no obstacles." - Wise Chinese He/She

8:20 AM - Woke up and the basement was freezing! No wonder why my parents were so willing back in the day to let me essentially take it over as my bachelor pad! Brrr! After a cup of coffee I layered up with 2 pairs of socks (wouldn't fit in my shoes, so I had to cut it to 1), a pair of short spandex, pair of long spandex and a pair of running pants, and then hats, gloves, and an a-shirt, long sleeve cotton shirt, long sleeve thermal shirt, and long sleeve sport shirt, oh and a sweatshirt! After all that I got in the car which didn't want to start. Finally turned over and drove to the school to do a quick run. Air temperature at the start of the run was -5 degrees !!! (Yes, NEGATIVE!)[wind chill factor of between: minus 15 and minus 20!]. It was sunny though so that was nice. Couldn't do much more than 30 minutes, else my eyelids might have entirely frozen shut. As it was I had to take my hand out of the glove and melt the ice away from my eyelashes every half mile or so. It was a fun run though. But I did get some strange looks. I am attaching a picture of me after the run and 2 pictures of the sunrise the other day which was spectacular from my house. Splits were:

• Mile 1: 8:58
• Mile 2: 8:50
• Mile 3: 8:22
• .57: 4:28 (7:52 pace)

Total Time: 30:40 Total Distance: 3.57 mi Average Pace: 8:35

View looking Southeast from my Garage.

Another shot before I headed to work, ~7:20 AM

And now, for the moment I'm sure everyone's been waiting for... what I have titled "THE ICEMAN RUNNETH":

7:20 PM - Did about 20 minutes of core exercises, freeweights, pushups, and crunches. Felt good.

Doh! I hate when I have "blonde" moments (no offense to any FRB friends that are truly blonde haired). Got up at 6am an drove to work only to find out that I don't work until 12pm today. urgh. It's too cold to run outside with temps at -19 below so I guess I'm going to just do some free weights, crunches, and pushups. I won't be able to run tomorrow either, as I actually work 8am to 3pm tomorrow and then have to drive to Pittsfield for Emma and my friend's 23rd birthday party. Oh well. Will just have to remember that next week is a new week and I can try to get in a couple more runs when it is hopefully less cold out. I am also hoping to make use of Emma's treadmill while I'm there!

9:30 AM - Question of the Day: What do Howling Commandos do when weather and time constraints keep them from getting outside to do a run? .. They improvise!

KILLER COMMANDO WORKOUT #1 >> I stretched and changed into running attire with an added sweatshirt to hopefully lead to a better sweat. (Boy did it work!). I started doing stairs, the first time I've actually ever done them, going from the basement up to the middle floor, and back down again. The basement flight is 13 stairs and is very steep. Then my sister and mom who first thought I was crazy for wanting to run inside suggested that I add the second flight of stairs, a "Double Decker" approach. I did, but found it wasn't the same, and seemed disjointed in a way, especially as I had to dodge our not-so-little St. Bernard puppy Aggie who is now about 80 lbs and thought I was playing a game rather than working out. I kept up the crazy stair climbing for an agonizing 20 minutes until my legs burned fire. Then I did 7 minutes of jogging around the basement floor through the four rooms, followed by 5 minutes of jogging in place which made me feel like 1000 pounds! Finished with stretching, free weights, crunches, and pushups (sadly I missed 100) I will try for more pushups tonight.

Total Time: 32:00 Total Distance: *3.2 mi (xtraining equivalent)