A glimpse into a busy working mom's winter workouts

                     I was just too tired this morning to go to the gym. After all these years of running I know very well the difference between tired and simply lazy. This was not lazy, I was honest to goodness tired. My throat was tight and dry and I have not had much sleep the day before and every part of me was still asleep when the alarm went off at 4am, so I allowed myself to not go and sleep for another 2 hours.  Now it's 7pm on that same day and everyone in my home has been fed and are now off working on their own projects. I came home straight from work and experimented on making a Mexican vegan quinoa recipe I found online. Dinner is over and sweet hubby is now reading, Luke is doing homework, Nora is sneaking a quick video game an I am warm and cozy in bed typing, beside me is my parrot on a stand enjoying the electric heater I plugged in for extra heat. But at 9pm, when the kids are getting ready for bed I will inhale some hot coffee, warm-up my car and head to the local 24-hour gym with my earphones and a fully charged iPad and maybe run for 1 hour as I binge watch new episodes of Black Mirror on Netflix and do weights for another hour and for a special treat to yours truly I plan to cap off the night with a free 10-minute water massage the gym offers. I could sit here and feel bad that I am not out there facing the elements but these days it's more important just to get the workout done. 

And finally, the cold comes

Tweeted: Determined to stay on 'top of the cold'...Two tights, two tops shell jacket, flashlight, reflector, music, mace, yurbuds, hat, fingerless gloves, water bottle....

Oh, I so love the challenge of running in cold weather. Figuring out just what to wear is a challenge on its own, not to mention the run itself. Yesterday, My daughter had gymnastics and since I could not get my butt out of bed for my early run, I decided it would get done during her class. I wore and carried the following:

short sleeve tech top

long sleeve tech top

wind jacket 

reflective strap across my chest

warn hat

fingerless gloves

mace

water bottle

phone/radio

earphones (Yurbuds)

long pants

tights under pants

long wool socks

powerful flashlight 

ID bracelet 

Garmin watch (220)

one of my kids' baby snow gloves to stuff my phone into so it won't freeze

You see what I mean.....forgot one of those things and the run will not work. I wanted to do 5, but, I was still in a lot of pain from my last run of 7 miles 2 days ago. The morning it was 10 degrees....so much more of this cold coming. 

Relating with the Treadmill

                 I am done with this winter season! Winter has become like a terrible toothache that began as mere tolerable breeze and now it's full fledge pain in the behind. I am more than done with winter, every cell in my body wants warmth, green and grass. I long for sweaty days and flip flops and shorts. The snow has fallen and the lure I might have felt going out there in the 'elements' has long since expired. Needless to say I have been running indoors. What has not been expected though has been my newfound love of the treadmill. I have been going to the gym in my building for about an hour a day for a week now and I think I am actually liking the control I get on the treadmill. I can set it at a specific speed and just zone out with my podcast, or my playlists and feel my legs get stronger and stronger. I start each run fairly slow, and finish much faster which feels amazing. I walk away from each workout feeling so pumped. So there, I have learned something new and now I feel a renewed sense of freedom knowing that I don't need to fight the 'elements' to get in a workout. 

Snowy Run

             It snowed today and I waited for my hubby to finish his exercises and then off I went for my one hour jaunt in the snow. My sacred time, my time to be in nature, in the elements and only worry about me. It was in the 20s and therefore I wore two warm tech pants, 2 thick, long-sleeve technical tops, a warm hat, long woolen gloves, wool socks and my yak tracks. (The Yaks came off a block into the run, there was not enough snow to have them function properly). I carried my Iphone, which I use for both music and for the MapMyRun app, inside my gloves for they tend to not work after half an hour in the cold. 

Look, I've got silver mascara!!!

Snow quietly covers DC

My Bridge is slushy, yet free of other runners today. 

Me looking out the window wondering what it's like out there. 

My son and two friends in the snow.....

Winter Running Tips

                  I started out the winter just absolutely hating running the cold, hating the time change, hating the loss of light. I still hate the time change and the loss of light, but at least now I love running in the cold. So I am here to share a few secrets to help you start running in the cold....with a smile. 

1. You must have the right gear. If you are cold when you first go out you will probably begin to dread going out, each time after. Buy the right gear for the cold. Look at magazines and get ideas, read online reviews of what type of clothes will work, join a running community and ask questions. Luckily, it's the holidays, so whatever you think you may be missing, slap it on a google wish list and share with family. I don't have a lot, but I have the right hat for me that keeps me toasty, I have the right tops, the right jacket, I even have 3 pair of shoes so if one gets wet in the snow, I could let it dry by rotating. If you go out and feel totally freezing, you don't have the right clothes. Because your body will feel 20 degrees hotter once you get going, you have to feel just a tad cold when you first go out, but not freezing. 

2. Change the way you think. Most cold days when I go out I see very few other runners. Think, the less runners you see out there, the more badass you are! 

3. Really....don't mind the elements. This past run I just had I was trying hard to avoid puddles. It had snowed and when the sun came out it all started melting into puddles. I was only doing an 8 mile run, so I decided, after unsuccessfully avoiding some puddles, to not care anymore if I stepped on puddles. That is when the fun began. My hot, swollen feet at mile 5-6 felt absolutely amazing every time I ran through a puddle and the cold water rushed into my shoes, giving my feet a much-needed ice bath. 

4. Take pictures. Things look different when it's cold. Use your camera phone and snap a few pictures each time you experience anything beautiful. Think, people at a crowded gym in the winter do not get to see what you see. 

So go out there and have a blast.....badass!!