Running in Hawaii versus here

It was super cold Sunday morning- my car thermometer read zero degrees on the way to church. Yikes! It also read zero on the way to the in-laws for dinner, but their thermometer said 10 below, so I wonder if my car thermometer can't do negatives...

I didn't go running yesterday like I had planned, but I did go today. I went in the afternoon while Little Miss Sunshine was napping. I figured it would be warmer then, which it was, but it was also windier. As I was running I was thinking about how much running I've done lately. It was a bit of a shock to realize it's been a month since I was running consistently. I did go running once in Hawaii, but there just wasn't a good route that was clear of obstacles and not super close to traffic. I try to err on the side of safety when I have LMS in the stroller with me, so I didn't go on any more runs after that. It was a nice run, physically, though. I wore my compression sleeves, and my shins didn't hurt at all. My calves got fatigued pretty quickly, but that should help strengthen them, which should in turn strengthen the muscles in my shins, right? I'm sure hoping that's the case. Anyway, my lungs didn't bother me at all- no problems breathing- of course, we were at sea level, so about as much oxygen as you can get. The two miles I did today showed me that 3 1/2 weeks at sea level followed by a return to higher altitude takes longer than a week to re-acclimate. I took a week off, hoping that would be enough, but I was gasping for air by the time I hit the 1.5 mile marker. Add fatigued calf muscles (compression sleeves again), and it was a tough run. It felt good to get out there again, but I'm going to have to really stay motivated to get past the altitude issues and the fatigued calf muscles. Hopefully it doesn't take too long.

I had planned to do a 10k race this Saturday, but for some reason it hadn't clicked that it was so soon. I need to run the 10k race as prep for the half marathon I'm doing in January, but I'm tempted to do just the 5k. After how cold it was on Sunday, though, I may not be running it at all. I really need to see how my lungs react to really cold, higher altitude air. Today was in the 30's, so warmer than it may be on Saturday. We'll have to see how cold the next couple days are.



Still haven't decided if I'm doing the race on Saturday, but if I do, I'm pretty sure it'll only be the 5K. I'm just not ready for a 10K at this point, which is unfortunate. Sure hope I'm ready for the half in January.

Upcoming Races

I had wanted to run a turkey trot while in Hawaii, but the only race I could find was 6 am on Thanksgiving, and it was a 10 miler. I only wanted a 5K... Plus, I wasn't ready for a 10 miler. So no race in November. My December race is this weekend, but I still have to see if I'm re-acclimated. January is my next half marathon. February is a 5 miler or a 10 miler (we'll see how I feel after the half). There's another half I can do towards the beginning of March, but it might interfere with some other stuff going on, so we'll have to see on that one. If we haven't moved cross-country, I have another half I can run in April. I'm not going to start looking for races past that point, since we don't know where we'll be.