BMImpossible

Off target

Today's run (street): 3.5 miles

It's always nice to have a three day weekend, because it gives me an extra day to run during the week. If I'm lucky, the weather will cooperate. Unlike yesterday when the rain chased me indoors, today looked sunny and clear. Except for the near freezing temperature, it looked like ideal conditions for a run.

I dressed for cold but didn't put on too many layers this time. I stepped outside and confirmed that my gear matched the weather. I noticed that the driveway, that was covered by a shadow, had a thin coating of ice. When I reached the sunnier road I was happy to find it ice-free. That happiness was short-lived. By the time I reached the half mile point, I was dealing with patches of ice where the sun didn't reach the road.

It wasn't bad enough to stop, but I needed to be careful. I put aside any thoughts of performance and focused on landing on my mid-foot to maximize my stability. I didn't have any close calls like yesterday, but it didn't make for a very pleasant experience. For a fairly short run, it was exhausting.

I've continued to watch my portion sizes and have already lost a few pounds (I believe this is the primary reason women resent men). Based on the advice I recently got from a nutritionist, I did 12 push ups after finishing my run. I considered doing 15, but didn't want to invite upper arm soreness on top of of my diminishing (but still present) sciatica. Fellow running blogger Renee recommended the Matt Fitzgerald site to calculate my ideal racing weight and BMI (see graphic at top). Will I get down to 14.8% body fat? That would be a no.

Slipping and sliding, inside and out

Unstable on every surface

Today's run (street/treadmill): 5.1 miles total [1.5 street, 3.6 treadmill]

Per yesterday's post, I've fallen into a distance rut by keeping every run in 2015 (but one) under 4 miles. Some of that is related to the sciatica I've recently developed and my concern about aggravating its root cause.  Other excuses factors included a very busy period at work and a tight schedule on weekends.

I was determined to cover at least five miles this morning. The early weather reports said that today's rain wouldn't start until after 10:00 AM. I figured that starting at 8:00 AM would mean dry and clear roads. That was true for the first few minutes, but then a light rain starting falling. I was okay with that, but the 35° temperature made the road slippery underfoot.

I tried to tough it out, but the risk of falling increased as the rain fell harder. I decided to head home rather than deal with a dangerous, unstable surface. Disappointing, but a practical move. I immediately headed upstairs and got on the treadmill to complete my workout. The 1.5 miles outside warmed me up enough to start fast. Unfortunately, like the road, the treadmill presented a slippery situation.

Our Sole F63 has a lot of problems and one of them is that the tread belt jerks randomly, especially when the speed is increased. My desire to get through a treadmill run as quickly as possible is limited by this issue. Slipping at race pace can be scary. As a consequence, I keep the speed around 6 MPH and deal with it.

I managed through 3.6 miles on the Sole on top of what I covered during my outside run. I exceeded 5 miles for only the second time since New Year's day. We haven't had nearly as much snow this January as we did last year, so I may catch a break next weekend and put in some mileage. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow, but I'll do something.