Bundle and Bare It!

Every winter I always find myself questioning why I still live in Chicago and how I've survived this long. If you come here from out of town you will probably hear a whole lot of weather talk...and pizza, we do love our pizza. But this year we got off pretty easy I think. No snow for most of December/most of January and highs in the 70s? More recently though we've had rain, snow and sun all in the same week; from no jacket to double-layer north face within the span of two days. But being a runner in Chicago means bundling up and bearing it.

There are few things I hate more than the dreadmill....like getting that chill up your spine after you get out of a hot shower, as you run around trying to find clothes, burning your tongue, and biting the side of your cheek (honestly that can ruin even the most delicious meal). But what all of these things have in common is that they are more or less undesirable, avoidable at times, but do occasionally still occur. The ironic part about treadmill workouts is that just a year or so ago I loved them! In fact I did one of my long runs (15 miles) on one. But once you get that feel of your feet on the ground, hitting the pavement and just going to go, it's mentally challenging to convince yourself you're actually "going somewhere" running on a belt.

Some days the elements are just against me though. Especially on Tuesday. For some reason I have less patience than normal on Tuesdays and want nothing more than a few hours of solitude. This is also the day I end up spending hours in the gym....two gyms actually. Funny how these things work out huh? So these days it's been more difficult to "bundle up and bear" my treadmill/track workouts. Instead of layers of clothes I need layers of mental motivation, knowing that the hardest part isn't getting the miles in.

Yesterdays track workout (4 X 800 @ 5k pace) had to be done on the treadmill. Find a good playlist and it's only 4 times, it could be worse, are the words I told myself. But what really drove me was to push for negative splits. All of a sudden my thoughts were consumed by getting faster and even though it burned and it became monogamous, I beared it. And I felt fabulous when I finished :)

Today the temperature is a whole 36 degrees! But at least the sun is out....that's usually the one great thing about freezing weather, it's that much better when the sun is out :)