10 Miles

Today is the last day I can run here in Deadhorse because tomorrow I have to pack and wash clothes for the last time before going home.  I don't mind saying goodbye to the treadmill for a while.  It is so hot in that exercise room that I lose a gallon of sweat.  At least it seems that way. My ankle feels fine, but my toenail that is about to fall off is not feeling so great.  I hope a silly thing like that doesn't end up being my downfall after all the struggling with my ankle! 

Today is Good Friday. 

I think this picture of Pope Benedict XVI
from last year tells it all.

Pope Benedict XVI

Short Run

I am really dragging today.  I have been making changes to my diet, and eliminating sugar, so that is probably the reason.  I got so hot in there on the treadmill that I thought I would drown in my own sweat. If it wasn't for the 30 below zero wind chill and no place to run, I think I would take it outside.  But I'm calling today a "sort of " rest day.  I did run 3 miles though. It feels great to get in some running every day.

Slow Pace

I did another 5 miles today and did it at a pretty slow pace.  I kept getting odd pains in my ankle and my knee.  A quick stretch seemed to stop it though. 
I also had a lovely walk about 3/4 mile from the Prudhoe Bay Hotel to Conam to pick up the company car that I left there this morning for service.  That was quite an adventure in itself.  It was 10 below zero with a 20 knot wind blowing. The wind chill was about -40 but fortunately it was to my back most of the way.  It was snowing hard, and very drifted along the side of the road.  Sometimes I was walking on glare ice and other times in snow almost to the top of my boots.  It gave me a renewed appreciation for our company car. I would hate to have to walk back and forth to work every night in the winter.  And honestly, it is pretty much always winter up here.

The training schedule says 8 miles for tomorrow.  I'm going to try to stick with the schedule for the rest of this week. We had an interesting conference call with the rest of our Team In Training Flex team that is going to Paris.  It got me excited for the trip.  It hasn't quite hit me yet that I am actually going to Paris in a little over one week!

Also, Team In Training has already brought in close to $200,000 for this Paris Marathon.  Awesome!

Go Team!

 

Another Day Another 5 Miles

OK ambition is pretty low.  I know I should do a much longer run, but I seem to procrastinate even if I actually wake up on time. Lots of stress this week because of the government sequester and the fact that we are down to our last week before our entire Contract Weather Observer program may or may not be totally canceled.  I fly home in one week but don't know if I will even have a job to come back to or if my relief will fly up here to let me go home.  Even a good hard run doesn't seem to erase that stress. But it is time to start winding down on the training anyway since the marathon is only two weeks away.  My ankle is very close to back to normal.  So maybe I will be too slow for the Paris Marathon time limit, but if I can get home in time to catch my flight, at least my ankle will probably allow me to give the race a good try. I did get in 25 miles total this week and am now over 80 miles for the month.

5 Miles

I ran 5 miles on the treadmill.  It must have been really hot in the exercise room because I was soaking wet the entire time. However, it is -22 outside! I think it was more of a stress relief run than a training run. The government sequester budget cuts have left my job in total limbo.  I don't know if we will even have a contract, or when and if I will get to go home.  That is really important to be because I need to fly to Paris on April 4th for the Paris Marathon.  I have been training for this for months and it will be very disappointing if I can't go.  The FAA has announced that it will be closing 149 air traffic control towers in a couple of weeks.  The impact to aviation safety will be devastating. Eliminating our job of weather reporting will be life threatening for pilots and passengers.  So we wait and wonder.  Running helped me to deal with it for yet another day.



"Today is a poor day for Outdoor Fitness!"  Seriously!

Feeling Good

I ran 7 miles on the treadmill today.  I only planned for 5 miles because I felt so bad yesterday.  But when I reached 5, I just kept going until I reached 7 miles.  Whatever was bugging me yesterday seems to have passed. I am really looking forward to getting home and running on real ground.  It's still 10 below zero outside and there is no place to run or I would probably give it a try out of desperation.  I have the treadmill blues!

Short 3 Miles

Had a bad day today.  I woke up early and hoped to do a long run but I was having lots of pain in both legs.  I think I just didn't get enough sleep and was also too stressed out over issues with work.  I still don't know when I will get to go home and it is so important this time because of my flight to Paris on April 4th.  There is a chance I will not be able to make my flight if things get too delayed getting home from Deadhorse.  I went back to sleep and got another two hours. Hoping for a better run tomorrow.

Pain Free

Finally, I just ran 5 miles and my ankle didn't hurt.  It seems like everything else kind of hurt, but my ankle felt fine!  It seemed like my knees and calves were a little achy today, but nothing serious.  I slept a little too late again today, but in reality I just got a good 8 hours of sleep.  That's probably better than forcing myself to wake up after 5 or 6 hours just to get in a good run. I hope I can get a chance to do a little bit of running on real ground before I go to Paris. If we get a decent day up here in Deadhorse I may even try to sneak in a short outdoor run just to see how it feels.  Today it is -20 so not a good day for that!

I'm just dreaming of the Paris Marathon, and also the Reykjavik Marathon in August. I wish I could run a marathon every weekend. But next I need to sign up with Team In Training and get another event after I finish the Paris Marathon.  I don't want to ever lose sight of the ultimate goal.  With all the problems of this world, it would be wonderful to get rid of one big one - the miserable curse of cancer.

Train Endure Achieve Matter - No More Cancer!

No Ankle Brace

I gave it a try.  I just ran 5 miles without the ankle brace.  It didn't feel any worse and I think it felt better.  Sometimes things like that actually hinder movement. So I am not going to use it anymore.  That way I can force my ankle into relying totally on its own strength.

I really wanted to do a long run today but for some reason I ended up sleeping too late. As soon as I have a day where I wake up earlier, I will get in a long run. As long as my ankle feels better, I feel like I am making progress. I hope it stops hurting completely before I go to Paris for the marathon. Pain will definitely slow my pace on the run.

Having some nice clear weather here, but still below zero.

Clear Night at the Airport

 

Made It 6 More Miles

I felt very sluggish today but decided that crawling back into bed would probably be counterproductive.  So I got myself going and spent some quality time on the treadmill. Sometimes I just hold on, close my eyes and pretend I am running along the beach at Maui.  But then I open them and go back to watching whatever happens to be on the TV in the exercise room.

It looks so nice outside until you step out into the -30 wind chill.  Then the treadmill doesn't look so bad after all! Only about two more weeks up here then I will be scrambling to get ready to fly to Paris for the marathon.  I'm not sure my ankle is ready but it's just going to have to do its best!

5 More Miles Today

It's getting better!  The ankle is getting much better.  It doesn't seem to be swelling much at all. It's such a beautiful day out there today.  I wish there was a good place to run outdoors.  It is 13 below zero so maybe it's just as well that there isn't a good place to run out there.  That might feel pretty cold. At least on the treadmill there isn't much chance of my ankle twisting because with it, the ground is always level. So this is still the best way for me to train. 

4 Miles on the Treadmill

I'm still recovering from the stressful work day yesterday.  But I gathered up enough ambition for a short 4 mile run on the treadmill.  I just can't wait until I can finally run outdoors.  The next time I get to that I will probably be running through the streets of Paris.  That is something to look forward to.  
The ankle seems to get a little better each day, but it still hurts.  I have a feeling it will still be hurting this time next year!

I wonder how many of these I would be justified in eating after that 4 mile run.

A little Easter treat from Mark Simpson

10 Miles for a 10K

This is the weekend for the Nike Women's Marathon Virtual 10 K.  I set my iPhone for 10 K but when I reached that goal, I just couldn't stop!  I kept going all the way to 10 miles.  My ankle still hurts a little but wasn't swollen at all when I woke up.  So I decided that it must be feeling better. So it got a good workout today.  Still not as long a run as I really need to do, but that will come.  I really want to get in a 20 mile run on the treadmill.  I have to wake up early enough to have time for it though. I felt pretty good today. I'm still too slow though.  I'll just keep on trucking until I get to Paris then just see if I can break my own speed limit there.

 

Gotta Kick Cancer!

Ran Again

This morning I got stuck at work because of unbelievable weather.  Couldn't even make it to the car to get it started! So I stayed at the Flight Service Station to sleep. When I woke up it was better so thought I had best grab the treadmill at the hotel while I had the chance.  We still have blizzard conditions out there to I didn't want to lose the chance for a workout. 

My ankle seems to react better to running than it does to the bike or elliptical.  They all feel about the same when I am actually using the equipment, but later on my ankle swells with the bike and elliptical.  Not so much with the treadmill.  So I guess I just have to take each day one at a time.  I was really happy to get in 5 miles today.

Before the weather got bad!!!

Cross Training

I really wanted to run today, but after the 10 miles yesterday, seemed like it might be good to rest my ankle.  But I tried using the elliptical and the stationary bike. I found that with both of them, there was no pain at all in my ankle yet I still got a pretty good workout.  So I am going to start using them both a lot while I am up here working.  I did 30 minutes and about 2 miles on the elliptical and 15 minutes and 2 miles on the bike. I felt both in places where I don't feel it when running.  So this sounds like a good plan for the days when I want to take a break from running.  My goal is to get in shape, pick up my speed, and make my ankle stop hurting.  Seems like a good plan.

10 Today

I am very happy knowing that I was able to run 10 miles today.  It was slow and I had to pause and stretch a couple of times.  I am kind of limp running, and sometimes it causes odd cramps in my good leg.  However, my ankle is feeling better every single day.  I do think in another week, it may be close to back to normal.  I don't know if I will really be able to fully make up for my lost training time, but I will give it my best shot.  I guess that's all I can do. 

I really like running with music but on marathons, my iPhone battery seems to just make it when using it with Nike+ so I am afraid to try using music too.  I'm going to solve that problem by getting a tiny iPod Shuffle and using that just for music on my next marathon.  I haven't checked if earphones are ok on the Paris Marathon so I hope they are.  I can tell that I run faster with music.  That may be what it takes to get me to run that race within the time limit.

I'm sure thankful for the treadmill here.  It is phase 1 weather with howling blowing snow at 10 below zero.

I made it to the next level on Nike+ 5000 km, and now the black level.  That is kind of a nice little milestone.

Only 5

I procrastinated for several hours.  I kept telling myself that since my ankle hurts and it was pretty swollen last night, I should take a day off from running. I even tried twice to go back to bed to help me procrastinate.  But finally I just couldn't do it.  I had to run.  I am a hopeless pathetic running addict.  Couldn't stand it so in spite of pain, swelling and common sense, I just ran another 5 miles.  I started faster but slowed down.  But it actually went better than yesterday, so that is probably a good sign. I could be sorry later tonight when it really starts hurting, but for now, it was worth it!

I signed up for the Hatcher Pass Marathon last night.  I just love that one.  I also got it posted on the Marathon Maniacs website, so who knows, maybe it will bring in a few Maniacs to that dedicated little Willow Race Series.  I really admire them and like to support them on that event.  I think it is an absolutely fabulous race!

5 Miles

Today was a bit more painful than yesterday but I did manage to run 5 miles.  The ankle isn't swelling so that's a good sign.  I'm icing it with my cold pack of snow in a ziplock bag.  The poor man's cold pack.  It works very well I must say. I wonder if running outdoors in the -20 temperature would be a way to ice the ankle while I run.  I don't think I will bother trying that idea.  I do hope it starts feeling better soon because I really need to get in a good long run very soon.

First Run on Sprained Ankle

I'm back up in Deadhorse and just did my first run on the sprained ankle. It did hurt, but felt pretty stable.  I did find that I had to wear the ankle brace because even walking without it was too painful.  But I really didn't have any problems with running.  I could feel a bit of pain, but it felt stable.  I ran most of the run at a 10 minute mile, which made me really happy.  However, I did keep it to only 3 miles since I am not sure how my ankle might feel when the Advil and the endorphins wear off!  I have it packed in snow at the moment, which feels awesome.

Judging by how this run went, I think I will be able to get back into shape quickly.  It will probably help more than hurt, forcing it to move. I have to get my speed up for the Paris Marathon which is only about a month away now.