since i'm in the mood to write this stuff down: here's a little running brain-dump of miscellaneous reports.
1. speedwork at the track! ... sorta. i discovered the day after thanksgiving that the local highschool track is not locking their gates anymore, at least during holiday daylight. so i did 2 miles worth of 800 metre and 400 metre sprints, with 1 min in between each (yes, i choose to use every possible numerical system at once; next time i will measure my intervals in farthings, cubits and Kelvin). and it felt AWESOME! and it felt HARD! and the track is 2 miles from my house so i still had to run HOME! ... yeah, that's a mixed-up solid workout. will try it again next weekend.
2. the return of muscles! or something like. since the marathon i have returned to actually taking other people's strength/cardio/plyo/kickbox/barre/whatever classes, at least 3 times a week, instead of putting myself through (some of) the paces at home. and re-entry was at first PAINFUL -- like, oh god don't ask me to remove a sweater over my head without 15 minutes spare time and a crane -- but i'm getting it back. this actually feels like a really good reason to NOT run a marathon again -- i just couldn't keep up my non-running-specific strength during actual training, or at least i didn't have the mental focus to do it all, and i think i like the long-term feeling of overall conditioning better than the (of course still excellent) accomplishment of holy shit i ran a marathon. is that weird? who cares. ... so, i feel this should inform my 2014 running plans, still in the planning stages. and, i should keep at it.
3. next on the agenda: a 10 miler on boxing day in hamilton ontario, about 40 mins drive from the family home at which i will have had a cozy little family christmas the night before. i ran this race once, two or three years ago, and what i remember is 1. i was freakin cold; 2. just when i was feeling a runner's high at mile 7 or 8 there was like a 70-degree incline cliff to run up and i wanted to die; 3. i finished it in about 90 minutes (i looked it up the other week, but don't quite remember the number.) it will probably be cold, hard and awesome again. this race always has exciting swag, and this year i will apparently receive 'lounge pants' for my troubles? i am highly unclear on the concept, but excited to lounge in them on boxing day eve.
4. the rest of the month is going to be very busy, and increasingly cold, and i will work and bundle up and run and gym and dream of sugar plum fairies bearing more technical fleece (anybody listening???) and bake cookies with healthy fats and bla bla bla.
stay warm! stay limber! and back to it. more soon.
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