numb

12.18 miles . . .

20 minute warm up
6 X 1000m at 3:24 with 1 minute recovery

6 X strides with full recovery

??? mile cool down

i can't recall in recent memory a more miserable run than this morning. the evil triumvirate of oregon weather pounding upon me: cold, wind, rain. any one of these on their own is of little consequence, though a bit annoying, especially when attempting tempo work. a combination platter is slightly worse depending on what the combo is. but all three as sometimes experienced here is terrible, miserable, and the road to hypothermia.

during the warm up, i never quite felt warmed up. i should have known better the moment i walked out my front door than to be wearing shorts. but this has become a bit of a tradition for me on my track workouts. in retrospect, i clean dry pair of pants for the warm up and cool down could have made a huge a difference.

at the track, my workout was momentarily paused as i debated over what to wear for my tempo workout. hat, gloves, arm warmers were the no brainers. but what of the thicker long sleeve adidas jacket? after much thought i took this off and started my workout thinking that the minute recover between each effort would not be ample time to lower my body temperature. i was only mostly right. as the cold, wind, and rain persisted, and at times became harsher, i felt a steady numbness starting in the fingers and crawling up the arm. by the last tempo, i could barely push the button on my watch to record the times, the end of my fingers being the numbest of all.

i decided it wise to put the jacket back on for the strides, since i was doing a full recovery between each. and though this was the right call, i believe that the damage had already been done. the only thing keeping me alive at this point was those quick bursts of speed ever three minutes or so.

but when that was over and the cool down began, i cascaded into ever descending circles of misery. typically i will switch back into my trail shoes for the cool down but i though that i just had to keep running. it was the only thing from pushing me over the edge of some real damage. so i just circled around the track. my easy pace is 6:49. this is the pace i would usually do my cool down. i kept looking at my watch and it read 6:33 for the whole cool down. i couldn't will myself to go slower knowing that it would only make me colder.

finally back at my car, i struggled with my key, dropping it once. i noticed that my motor skills were slightly off and shaky, and i couldn't get warm fast enough.

this is my last speed workout for six weeks. what a one to go out on. but if i can hit all my times and push through this workout on a day like this, i'm ready for this intense marathon training plan. there were so many times that i wanted to quit by blaming it on the weather and not my own strength. it's funny all the things that go through our minds as runners. all the negative thoughts, reasons to stop, to cut our workouts short or not as intense or whatever.

finishing strong today has shown that mentally i am ready.