WHAT

This is WHAT I'm talking about! Yesterday wasn't a bad day for a run. Today it was 14 degrees cooler and windy, really windy. The wind chill made it at least 10 degrees cooler than the 40 the thermometer had on it. The roller coaster weather makes me not want to run, but I ran. For the most part, the wind blew from my side. I was running into the wind from about mile 2.5 to 3, 4.5 to 5, 5.5 to 6. The wind was whistling so loudly in my ears that I couldn't hear vehicles coming. When I turned and began heading into the wind a Mile 2.5, my hands got so cold that I thought they would get frostbite. I had a ways to go and they were already so cold. Before I got in the shower, I stuck my hand under the faucet to see if the water was warm enough. The water temperature felt fine, but when the water hit the rest of my body, it was cold!

I was surprised that my legs were not sore from yesterday's run. I went all day at work without feeling indication that I had ran. That changed as soon as I started today's run. I could feel it halfway between the hips and knees and halfway between the knees and ankles. Before the run, I had 10 peanut butter and crackers at lunch and a half bag of M&M's at 5:30 as I was heading out the door. I'm glad I'm not eating much to help me lose weight. I thought it would affect my "running fuel", though, but I seem to be doing okay - getting good gas mileage :).

Another WHAT is my times. Mile 1 was about like yesterday - 9:16. 2 - 9:45. Mile 3 was 10:00 flat. When I saw that, I thought to myself, "If Mile 3 proves to be my slow mile once again, all my other miles will be under 10:00. I didn't expect it to happen. I was slowing down and had 4 miles to go. Miles 4 through 7 went like this: 9:56, 9:28, 9:38, and 9:35. Yes, I did it! Mile 7 was a real struggle. Even though I didn't know if Mile 6 had been under 10:00, because I tried not to look at my watch, but just run at a slightly over comfortable pace, I tried pushing on Mile 7 to be on the safe side. I kept feeling myself slowing down. I would pick it up and slow down again. It was a constant battle. My legs felt like jello. My total time was 1:07:38, for a pace of 9:40. I can live with that.

Although I feel pretty good while running considering the layoff and that I haven't been eating much lately, my heart seems to be straining. My Average Heart Rate was the highest that I have recorded at 181. The previous was 178 on June 30, 2010, on a 5 mile run. My Max Heart Rate tied with the highest ever at 198. The previous also on the June 30, 2010, 5 miler. My Recovery From was the second highest ever at 195. The highest, also on June 30, 2010, is 197. My Recovery To was 150.