It’s really hard to hate winter when you wake up to a view like this. My absolute favourite thing about winter is how quiet it is outside during and after a snowfall. It’s just so peaceful. Add to that, snow covered branches and a sunrise and you’ve got the makings for a beautiful day! My students also love snowy days because, let’s be honest, playing in the snow is much more fun than playing on frozen mud 🙁 .
If you can’t wear a tiger hat out on yard duty, when can you wear one?!
In my last post, I mentioned that this training season I’m making a real effort to tackle my long runs at an easy pace. I’ve read quite a bit on this idea and it makes a lot of sense to me. Honestly, in the past I’ve tried to run all my training runs at a comfortable but quick pace. The competitor in me always wants to see a better time on my watch. If I want to get faster then I need to constantly work at running fast, right? Wrong! Running fast all of the time is too hard on your body and can lead to injury which could cause you to not be able to run at all. That being said, if you never challenge yourself in the speed department your pace may get “stuck” where it is. So what’s the answer? Well, according to this article from running.competitor.com, a mixture of slow paced runs as well as speed work is the key. Gentle runs, particularly after more taxing runs, help get your blood flowing to the muscles that need recovery thus speeding up the healing process. You’re still building endurance while giving your body a chance to recover. This makes sense to me. I’ve suffered from a few running related injuries over the last couple of years and if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because I tried to do too many “all out” workouts. Slowing down is easier said than done though and it’s going to take a conscious effort on my part to dial my pace way back on my long runs. This past Sunday, I ran 7 miles at an average pace of 9:47 per mile, which is about 1 minute slower per mile than I would normally run, and I felt good. I want to strive for balance this season so one run per week will still be speed/hills, and I will probably try to run my 2 other shorter runs somewhere in between. I’m eager to see if dialing back my long runs will help ward off those pesky injuries from the past. Time will tell 😉 !
Ever had any workout related injuries?
What do you love about winter?