Five Weeks until Boston! Ohhhhhhh yikes!

Another Maine week has come and gone, and while we are that much closer to Spring the whole weekend was full of raw wind and wet snow. Yuck! GROSS.

I did my long run on Saturday in the midst of an on and off blizzard. It was just above freezing so while it was most unpleasant out it was not cold enough for the roads to get icy. There were a few fleeting moments around mile 16 when I thought that getting run off the road might be preferable to continuing but since that did not happen, I soldiered on, suffering in many obvious ways.

I am still in the midst of suffering the ill effects from my post vacation upper respiratory crapola. Running in the cold air seems to trigger some lengthy and intense bouts of coughing. To the extent where I genuinely feel that I may have coughed some of my internal organs out of place! (while I expect this is an exaggeration it's only a slight one, I certainly seem to be keeping my abdominal muscles strong with the remnants of this pesky bug. I need a breathing treatment.)

My brain is getting really excited that Boston is only five weeks out!
My legs and body (and the weather) however seem to be on a slightly different page at this point. GAH! Could it please be warmer than 12 degrees for more than 24 hours? Maybe no more snow? I really feel like we might run Boston in some kinda blizzaster.

It might be this or 95 degrees. And I'm used to blizzards, bacon and shame so BRING IT...

 I am trying (and only failing slightly) not to fall into the trap of comparing this years training to last years. Last year I was absolutely on track for a PR and made a lot of sacrifices to get in every ounce of training that I possibly could. I chose to make training a top priority, over almost everything else and while I am glad that I did (even though I did not meet my goal) I am not willing to prioritize my running over my business at this point in time.
Clearly, I need to focus on what I am good at now (walking, bathroom breaks, snacking, complaining and running 10 minute miles and drinking beer) VS what I was good at last year (running fast, ninja skills, being a rock star and... bathroom breaks. And beer. That goes without saying.)

Thank the sweet lord baby Geezes for beer.

So where does all of this leave me?
The great news is that my legs and body feel good (with the notable exception of the cough of doom) Currently no aches or pains, and while I do notice the lack of Yoga practice I simply can not get there right now. I am making the best of it and trying to do some quality stretching a few times a week.

Mileage wise I feel that I am meeting my goals. We all know that I'm not a super high mileage runner and, with the exception of my sick week in February, I have been happy with my mileage totals!

My speed goals though? Not even close. As in, so far off that I get a little riled up occasionally! Where did my speed go?
My logical thought is that first and foremost I'm transitioning directly from the treadmill to the road and into my peak training weeks. I am hoping that the gains I'm (trying) to make will become apparent soon..... PLEASE RUNNING GODS.
This is the first year in EVER that I have not tested my race legs mid winter in a half marathon situation to see if I'm on point- so I feel a little lost. And a little slow. Like a turtle kind of nonsense. No clue what to expect in 5 weeks.

My plan at this point is simply to stick to my training schedule and hope that my legs and lungs get on board. I have a few more long runs planned to work on the endurance before time runs out, and if the weather continues to be slightly less sucky road work should begin to feel more normal!

And I will WIN the marathon, just like I normally do!!

So hey you guys? Send me some good training vibes. Maybe some good weather vibes too? I'm ready to get my ninja rockstar mojo back and am happy to enlist the power of positive thoughts.

Hey, I'm BACK!

I'm back! I did indeed vanish again, not only was I too busy to keep up with blogging but honestly you guys- do you really want to hear the following on a daily basis?

"Guys, it's 20 below and snowing like a bitch!"
"Ummmmm you guys? It's cold and there is a fresh foot of snow in my yard...."
"Guess what!? 4th snow day in a row!!"
"I can't find the dogs because the snow is so deep they sink out of sight... Never to be seen again...."
"My view from the treadmill: Limited, because the snow is over the window..."

This was from February 10. The snowbanks are twice this size now.

Since I do not wish to be the boringest blogger who ever penned a boring blog I skeddadled, I hope I was missed greatly.

Since December I have run outdoors 6 times. Two of those times I was either racing or adventure snow running (which is crazy to the max). Twice I ran happily along with Mr. Bradlowski while on vacation (which was lovely, but was vacation running which was for fun and joy and not training.) And more recently- as in yesterday and today- outdoors in my own backyard. Miracle!

This is NOT our backyard but it was while we were on vacation! Vacation running ftw.

Despite the monotony of the indoor running situation, I recognize the fact that if I did not have a treadmill in my house I would simply not have been able to run this winter. So yeah, I am glad to have it. And glad to be off of it, at least until the next storm hits!

So to make this easy and not eye clawingly dull here is the rundown:

February. (You are a horrible person!!)
Weather- Complete bullshit
Running- Challenging but fascinating and always an adventure. Of death... :-)
Health- I caught a vile Floridian death plague and was down and out for a week. Suck-O.
Days until Boston: I think it's 6 weeks away today so that many :-)
Races run: ZERO. As most New Englanders know everything has been cancelled. EV-ER-Y-THING.
Other: Eric and I had a lovely week in Florida. We know how to have a great time and we did! Ironically, it was exceedingly cold while we were there but there was no snow. Nothing can get in the way of our good times! We really had the very best of amazing fun!

Brrrrrrrrrr Florida!!!! Still awesome though.

At this point, despite the monster snowbanks and more bad weather just waiting in the wings Spring really is close. I'm getting excited to run Boston again and will talk more soon (or in a month, we all know the truth!) about my plans, how this training cycle has compared to others in the past year, and how my race week and race plan will be a little different as well.

So hope for the best kids, soon the roads will be completely clear, the snow gone, it will be hot and buggy and muggy and humid and we will all have something different to complain about! (and I can't wait...)