Winter Training (Blerg)

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in preparing for the Princess Half Marathon has been winter training.  I signed up for the race in July, high on the adrenaline of training for and completing my first 5K.  Intellectually I knew that the Princess would be a bigger commitment in terms of training, and because I have a calendar, I knew that part of the training would take place in the winter months.  Sure, I knew it would probably be hard, but I was confident that the excitement of the race and the thrill of accomplishment would be enough of a carrot to keep me motivated through it all.

Fast forward to today, when the mercury on my thermometer is barely a single digit and my long training runs are into double digits, and all the carrots in the world can’t make me excited to get out there and run.  Don’t get me wrong, I am so excited for the race!  I absolutely cannot wait for the experience.  Unfortunately, in order to get to the race, I’ve got to put in the work, and that’s a different kettle of fish altogether.

For the most part, my Princess training has been going well.  I had a two week lull in the middle of December – between craziness at work, school finals, the holidays, and everything involved with the Newtown shooting, which shook me to my core, running was not in the cards – but beyond that, I’ve stayed consistent.  In the spring and summer, I did my shorter mid-week runs in the morning at the track near my house, but the prospect of dragging myself out of bed on cold dark winter mornings is not appealing, so I’ve switched to my treadmill until daylight savings time.  Long runs are a different story; there’s no way I can face the treadmill for more than an hour!

My long weekend runs have added an element of anxiety that was previously missing for me.  I obsessively track the weather for the weekend, trying to figure out if my planned Sunday morning slot will still work, or if I should try and reschedule for Saturday mid-day due to weather conditions.  We’ve had more snow this winter than last, which makes the rural roads without sidewalks I run a bit more treacherous.  I work in a city about 20 minutes from my house, where sidewalks are available and clear for running, but driving in order to run seems wasteful of both gas and time.  Long runs already take away time from the family on the weekend.  Tacking on another 30-45 minutes of drive time seems more self-indulgent than I need to be.

Right now, I’m grateful that I’ve been able to eke out the long runs I need to in order to stay close to my training goals.  In a perfect world, my long runs might be longer, but being so close to the Princess, I also don’t want to risk injury by pushing myself too hard, or running in potentially dangerous conditions just to complete the run.  Besides, I just keep reminding myself that the Princess Half is not a race I’m running for time.  I’m running for the experience, the photos, and the accomplishment of finishing.  I will leave the time goals for spring and summer races, when training conditions are a bit more favorable.