Boldly running where I've never gone before

 
It’s been COLD.  I mean BLOODY COLD.  And it has snowed all over everything.  I have one day off this weekend and I have to run 11.25 miles to keep up with my training schedule.  I look out my window this morning and it looks like Rura Penthe out there!  It’s supposed to get up to 34 today but there’s no way it’s going to melt enough snow for me to find a safe place to run.

I checked weather.com and the closest place that doesn’t have sidewalks covered with snow or ice is Springfield, Illinois, 160 miles away.  It’s about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive but that’s where I’m going.  I don’t relish the idea of trying to run in the middle of the street anywhere around here so I’m leaving Rura Penthe on a day’s pass and heading south.  It will take me about 2 and 1/2 hours to run 11 miles so I guess I can call it a mini-road-trip.

This week, I gave myself a bit of a light week.  I’ve been reading about the benefits of periodization.  It makes sense to me on an intellectual basis and I decided to give it a try.  I’ve never stuck with a training program consistently enough to follow a particular strategy because I always end up behind and struggling to catch up…..just like I’m doing now, thanks to injuries and laziness.  But given how exhausted I felt in the past couple of runs last week, I figured I needed to give myself a break.  And of course the weather here on the Klingon penal colony has not exactly been conducive to outdoor running either, so the time seemed right.

Last weekend, I had a 10 mile run planned but was invited to walk a Jingle Bell 5K with a friend in Oswego so I incorporated that into my run.  I covered 3.1 miles last Sunday walking and then 7.25 more running to achieve my total.

Monday, I took off.

Tuesday, I ran 4 miles in a snowstorm.  Yes, it sucked.

Wednesday, I took off.

Thursday, I did 2 miles of speedwork on the treadmill.

Friday, I did a 45 minute cardio DVD (Fat-burning for Dummies) and a 45 minute strength DVD (FIRM Maximum Body Shaping).

Today, Saturday, I am about to drive to Springfield for my 11.25 mile run.

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EDITED TO ADD:  The further south I drove, the less snow I saw so I decided to run in Bloomington instead since it would shave about 120 miles off my round-trip journey.  I got about 8 miles done when an ice storm started and little pellets began bouncing off my face.  I guess I was not destined to run 11 miles today.  I headed home and finished the evening watching old episodes of “Fringe” on DVD.