Did I talk about my New Year's Day run? I did, right? I'm too lazy to check the blog at the moment, but I'm certain I did. Oh that's right ... it was a tandem run/WILFTB post.
Moving on.
After that run, Mary Jane was just not recovering from it like she should have been. All the stretching, foam rolling and ellipticalling (which oddly helps quite a bit) was not doing what it should have been doing. I mean, MJ was making noise and the noise level was getting louder and louder - to the point where I was wondering how common it is for someone to develop osteoarthritis after hip arthroscopy. I even did and internet search on it.
FYI, the only link anyone is talking about right now is how the surgery is not recommended if you already have osteoarthritis. Which, any good surgeon should tell you.
Anyway, I realized there was one last thing I could try before emailing my PT was an ice bath. In the winter. During one of the coldest weeks so far.
Ugh. Fine.
So, I got some ice, dressed for the occasion, and plopped myself into my tub. Just filling the tub with cold water was making me wonder if I even needed to throw ice in there. But seeing as I was already cold, and had the bucket of ice right there, I dumped it in.
MJ actually seemed to be enjoying it; my feet, on the other hand, were not thrilled at all.
In the end, it seemed to make all the difference. The next morning, I felt so good, I kept thinking "ice baths are so effective, it's just stupid". When I actually reflect on that statement, it seems to make no sense, but I know it's a legit phrase around here.
Whatever.
So, feeling better, I lifted twice the rest of the week, finally got housework and the rest of my wall painting done, and then decided that I really needed to go for a run. For the latter half of the week, highs were in the teens with "feels like" temps below zero.
As much as I love bacon, I was not going to do a run in "feels like -2*". However, I was a big enough idiot to try to talk Jeff for a mile walk in that weather. Doh!
In any case, Sunday's forecast for mid-morning was about 20, with it feeling like 10. I can handle that. Headed to my current favorite trail with crushed gravel that probably had 1-1.5" of snow on it. For points system, let's say 1.25", okay, Dave?
Weather deets:
There was a little bit of wind, but nothing worth reporting.
Warmed up properly, including a few strides, and I was off. I am fairly certain I spent the first half mile, thinking about how all I'd do in my blog was complain about the cold and how making winter running seem cool was dumb because winter running was cool, but not in the "cool" sense but in the it's actually flipping COLD and that's just plain dumb. Who likes to be cold? Seriously, aside from Siberian Huskies, who aren't really cold anyway because of their coats, which leads me back to the original question: WHO LIKES TO BE COLD?
And then my hands finally warmed up.
I run along the Missouri river, which is actually quite beautiful when it's cold and it's been snowy. There are huge ice chunks floating down the river, slowly rotating as if they are in their own ballroom group dance.
And I do like the monochromatic color palate of winter at times, and yesterday it was quite beautiful. Having snow on the ground always helps.
I had nearly finished my run, having only seen a single walker (BA), when I finally saw another runner, who was running on the dry streets instead of the snow-covered trails. We acknowledged each other with a friendly wave and kept on. I ended up seeing him again when I finished the run, in which he said, "It's warming up next week!" To which I responded, "I know, we'll have to share with others then, too!" And he chuckled.
In the end, I had 2.65 miles in 32:42, a 12:19 pace. Not too bad, but the heart rate was up above 160 most of the time. Gotta work on keeping that low. But it was cold, so whatever.
After some stretching, I went over to the local coffee house and got a hot chocolate.
It was amazing.
Okay, maybe winter running isn't that bad.
