Boldly running where I've never gone before

It was a beautiful wintry day today.  The sky was a watercolor blue and the sun was brilliant.  If it had been warmer, it would have been perfect.  After starting somewhere the in high 20’s, the temperature gradually slid down an icy slope toward the biting frigidity we know and dread here in Northern Illinois.   I am off work today and tomorrow —  my first two consecutive days off since Thanksgiving  — and I was weighed down by the exhaustion I usually feel after a long run of work days.  I went to my volunteer job in the morning and then had to take the dogs to the vet at 2:00 pm for a vaccination.  I had fully intended to go home afterward and flop on the sofa for the rest of the day.  Until I saw the sun.

Something about its brightness filling my eyes gave me a surge of energy, a rush of happiness and a powerful desire to be outdoors just to revel in its company.  It was almost like the craving one feels for a new lover.  I felt a little crazy actually but decided to go along with it, so I headed over to the Hammel Woods with the dogs where we hiked up and down the hills for about 45 minutes.  The temperature was about 17 with a north wind of about 10 mph.   It was COLD!  I liked it, but it was really cold.  And I can hardly wait to do it again!

Since the abortive run last Saturday, I’ve done no other physical activity.  I hope I get a great night’s sleep tonight because I’d like to really step up the pace over the next couple of days.   I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately about exercise and have learned that one’s level of fitness can begin to diminish in as little as one week spent idle.  And since the Disney World half is in a mere 25 days, I need to get to and stay at a relative peak for the next 3 and 1/2 weeks.  So even though my newfound practice of periodization calls for peaks and valleys of intensity, I feel wary of any kind of slacking this late in the game. 

More later….