Training... or a lack thereof

Before I get started, I want to give a shout out to my son, who turns 29 today.  I am extremely proud of him.  Happy birthday, son!  Love you!

And so...
After completing the X Dog 8k snowshoe race last Sunday, Bex! and I decided to take a break Monday from our training schedule.  After such a successful launch to the 50at50 Project, we felt we earned the right to have a rest day.  Justified!  This may become a common theme - we'll see.

Tuesday morning was yoga, which felt really good.  Wednesday and Thursday wound up being dark, cold, wet, snooze button-y mornings.  Sigh.  But we had big plans for the weekend, by golly.  Yessiree.

Honestly, we haven't been exactly tearing up the training.  It's tough this time of year.  If my birthday was in, say, June or July then no problemo.  But getting my arse out of bed when the alarm goes off at 5:45, sitting up to find and put on running clothes, getting out the door when it's cold and dark and (often times) wet is no easy task.  It's much too easy to hit the snooze button and cuddle up with my wife under the covers.  That is going to have to change or it'll bite me in the butt at some point.

A lot of the events coming up in my project are short distance races, which I should be able to stumble through, even if training is meh.  However, there is one thing that is concerning - namely, next weekend I have back to back events.  Saturday is the 6k Worst Day of the Year Run; Sunday is the 5k Zena run down near Salem.  Neither distance is too worrisome.  It's the two days in a row that bothers me.  While I feel I could handle either event on its own just fine, I admit I'm not in top running shape - yet - unless 'round' counts.  It's mostly the hips, knees, ankles I need to get back into running form.  I can cover the distance but the pounding administered to my joints could lead to injury, which I can't afford.  At 6'4" and           lb it's quite a lot of punishment. But this is why the early part of the year is 5k's and such, right?

I need to make sure I stretch before and after each event because nothing will derail the goal like an owwy.  'Owwy' is a medical term - look it up.

We have this weekend off from races.  We were hoping to get out for a run, maybe in Forest Park on trails.  But Thursday evening Bex! had the dreaded 'flu-like symptoms' and I wasn't feeling topnotch myself.  We both stayed home Friday - me, a pre-planned day off and Bex! sick.  And as Friday morning progressed I felt like crap.  Both down for the count.  We've been taking care of each other and you KNOW we have plenty of soup in the house!

I really hope to shake this tonight and get out for a walk tomorrow.  Anyhting to get outside and move around a little.  I need to make sure I get out a couple of times this week, too.  And stretch, stretch, stretch.

And stretch.