Failed Fit: Sometimes Running Sucks...

By Cool J

I will admit that I often put a positive spin on most of my posts. I try to keep the negativity off the internet, and instead use this as a venue to try to motivate, share my experiences, and learn from others' experiences!

I bet you think I always love running. And that my running club is perfect! And that I think I live in the best city ever, (or at least the best city in the Midwest.) And most of the time, I really do like to run, and most of the time, I really do love my running club. And my city.

But honestly? Sometimes running sucks. Sometimes living in Minneapolis sucks.

And last night was one of those nights.

We have been pretty spoiled here in Minneapolis, with a very mild fall, and a very mild start to the winter. But that all changed on Sunday, when snowstorm Chelsea poured its heart out on top of us.

Sure, the snow is pretty.
Sure, it's fun to snowshoe through the dog park with your fun-loving sister...

 And snowshoeing is a great calorie burn. 

Read last year's post about it HERE

But after Sunday's storm, the temperature dropped to about 5 degrees. All that wet, pretty snow? Well, it froze overnight. 

The trails around the lakes were plowed, but even plowed, they were still crazy slick. And I didn't plan ahead and bring my yak-traks.  Instead, I arrived at run club after a stressful day at the office. I even ended the work day by slipping in the parking lot and falling hard on my butt, spilling my red Kate Spade purse and getting it covered in salty mushy snow...boo...

{Poor purse before it hit the snow...}

This purse had a rough day...and I love this purse! It was a birthday gift from my 4 lovely sisters.

So, after the rough end to the day, I was in quite the grumpy mood when I arrived at the club. There were very few people there, and no one at my pace, which meant I would be running alone in the crazy cold and dark. Even with my head lamp, and even with the trails mostly plowed, it was a brutal, uncomfortable run.

• It was four degrees. Enough said.
• The paths were really slippery.
• My face mask was frozen by the end.
• I borrowed Dusters' nano (god bless him), and I guess it was stuck on repeat. I did start to wonder if that Phish jam session was going on even longer than necessary...
• The trails may have been plowed, but the trail to the trails were not plowed, which meant cold snow in the Brooks running shoes.
• I was going seriously slow. Snail slow. I'm not sure if it even counted as cardio.

Well, enough negativity. 

Point is- everyone has a bad run, and last night was definitely mine. I decided to hit the treadmill this morning instead of suffering through the -4 degree forecast, and it was actually a nice reprieve.

Treadmill workout: 1 mile warm-up, then a reverse pyramid: 5 min. fast, 2.5 min.slow, 4 min.fast, 2 min. slow, 3 min.fast, 1.5 min.slow, 2 min. fast, 1 min.slow, 1 min. fast as I could- then a cooldown.

{Matilda enjoying the snow. She doesn't know any better!}

Even though the run was tough, I did feel less stressed afterwards. Ah, the power of running....