After the gorgeous and unseasonably warm weather we had last week here in Northeast Ohio, we're certainly paying the price this week. High temperature dropped about 35 degrees overnight, and all it's done now for over 2 days is rain. Hurricane Sandy is taking her good old time moving along, and in the meantime, it just keeps raining here. Now the wind has started to pick up too, and a lot of the area schools are already starting to close for tomorrow. Overall, it's downright miserable. Cold, gloomy, dreary, windy, and rainy. Day after day, night after night. And according to the weather forecast, none of that is going to change for another 4 days!!!!!!!! Blah! (I must applaud myself, by the way, for choosing this week as my week off of work - such skill at picking a nice week to enjoy...) In case you think I'm exaggerating, schools are closing (as I mentioned above), news outlets are warning people to stock up on generators and food staples, and there's even speculation of post-poning Trick-or-Treat.
Needless to say, these are less than ideal conditions for running, at least in my opinion. I'll just come right out and admit it: I'm not one of those people that runs outside in the rain. I know there are plenty of runners who do, and plenty that also say you're not a true runner if you don't run in the rain, snow, ice, freezing temperatures, etc. Well, don't call me a runner then. I don't care what those people think. I run to relax, to take in the world around me, to release my stress from the day, and to feel that sense of accomplishment when I'm done. I don't run to torture myself. And to me, running outside as rain pelts me in the face so I can hardly see and have to squint to try to keep the rain from hitting me square in the eyeball would not be enjoyable. I don't mind a sprinkle here and there while I run - those might even be kinda relaxing - but a steady rain or better just isn't my thing. Why put myself through that when I have a treadmill in my basement? No, I don't enjoy the treadmill as much as running outside, but compared to running outside in sideways rain, it's a total joy. :o)
As I mentioned before, I have this gorgeous week off of work. One would normally think this is a great thing for my running/exercise routine and my healthy eating. Wrong. I'm the type of person that operates best on a routine schedule. Weekends are always my downfall, so a whole week of "weekend-like" days could be dangerous. Today happened to be no exception. I decided to bask in the glory of sleeping in and waking up without the aid of an alarm (come on, how often does anyone really get to do that?!?!?!), and then started a DVR marathon from the comfort of my couch. There's just something about weather like this that makes sweat pants, the couch, a blanket, and the TV seem like a fantastic idea. Unfortunately, this type of situation also usually leads to snacking for me. My husband worked all afternoon, and he started laughing at me when he came home and I told him that I can't be trusted to stay home by myself with food in the house. He made me admit to him that I scarfed down 3 Reese's cups, a can of pop, some cookies, some popcorn, and even a couple bites of ice cream, just to name a few. Sure there were a few healthy items mixed in there, but it seemed like I just kept eating all day long.
As the evening started to roll around, I realized that all of this crappy eating was actually making me feel pretty gross. Now, I'm the type of person who eats junk food, chocolate, cookies, etc. as comfort foods. They make me happy - they make me feel better. But these days, when I over-do it like I did today, I feel disgusting and sluggish. I made up my mind right then to turn the day around, get up off the couch, and run. Since outside wasn't an option for me, I wasn't going to let that stop me, so I hopped on the treadmill, determined to stick with my plan to run 3.5 miles for these next 2 weeks (as part of my plan for progressing towards 4 miles). I felt tired (probably from all the junk food), but I felt pretty good too. I pushed past the tiredness and tried to focus on relaxing to take my mind off of it. Before I knew it, 2 miles had gone by, and I was still feeling good. It got a little harder from there, but I was determined not to walk. When I ran 3.5 miles outside last week for the first time ever, my pace was a little over 10 minutes per mile, so I purposely set the treadmill at 10 minutes per mile tonight. The plan was to keep that pace the whole time without stopping to walk, and then to pick up the pace right at the end so I could finish with an average pace under 10 minutes per mile this time. I seriously thought about stopping a couple times - especially when I really wanted a drink of water. Let me tell you, taking a drink of water while running 6 mph on a treadmill is simply not possible. I know because I tried. I didn't want to stop but I also wanted a drink. Well after spilling it on myself and almost chipping a tooth on the water bottle, I gave up without taking a drink. Hahaha! It was one of those times I was glad no one was around....
Anyhow, I ended up making it through my run just like I'd planned, in 34:45 - just under 10 minutes per mile. I felt so much better after I ran and was no longer sluggish. I re-arranged some of the furniture in the basement we'd been meaning to do, and even put the basement railing back up by myself. I guess there really is something to that saying about exercise making you less tired. Now if I can just stay on track the rest of this week... :o)
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