‎"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." ~Albert Einstein

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 220:

It's a snow/wind-tastic day, here in VT, BlogLand. The sidewalks seemed to be clear, so in keeping with NO EXCUSES, I gave myself a deadline, when I got up this morning; I had some stuff that needed to get done, but one way or the other, I was running at some point, today.

I had some mundane errands to run first, but then I skipped over to the mall (this is related to training, I swear!). I desperately needed like one more pair of jeans. I'm traveling in less than a week, and the way my body has changed has really wrecked havoc on my wardrobe.

There I was... in the fitting room of Maurices, when an amazing thing happened:

THAT, my friends, is me zipped into (comfortably) a SIZE 14 jean, from a non-plus-size store. SERIOUSLY. To put this in perspective, a year ago I was hitting the top end of a size 24 in pants.
To further the awesomeness, I am not sure I ever even wore this size in high school (Fat Chick Syndrome didn't just develop out of thin air, people!). I didn't even know what to do. I took the pants off, checked the tag on the inside (as there clearly had to be some mistake), then put them back on. Yep. 14. Still Fit. Wow. You better believe I bought those jeans. It's moments like that, that you need to store away for when times get challenging...

I was still moving forward pretty well on my "tiny" jeans-high, and I got my housework, etc. done in record time. Time for a run. Yes, it was snowing, but it wasn't soooo cold, and (still) the sidewalks/roads seemed okay. And it was light out. That was a pleasant change.

Out I went, without a particular plan, other than to mix up the route today. I ran the big long hill of death pretty competently today and circled around some new neighborhoods I'd never considered running. And THEN... when faced with a T in the road, I was proud of my Spartan-worthy decision.... either run up the Big Long Hill of death again, or have to cut the run short(er) and go straight home.... I ran the Big Long Hill AGAIN.
It's still a pretty ugly hill to run, but I did it, ran back down the other side, and ran home. The run had to be shorter today (somewhere to be!), but I feel like two runs at the big hill made up for it. Waha. I even kept up a pretty damn good pace, doing it.
Today's stats:
Time: 30:21 min
Distance: 2.82 mi
Ave Pace: 10:71 min/mi (even WITH 2 runs at the Big Long Hill!)

I feel pretty good about that. Short, but something different for the legs to do.

Although, I did notice on the way home, I was feeling some tightness/tension behind my knee. The GT says I need to stretch and foam roll more... that this is a by product of tight calves (behind knee is the insertion point for the calves) and/ or hamstrings.

He even said the dreaded word...... YOGA. .... ew. But hey, maybe I will grow to love it. It seems to be becoming more and more of a recommended, necessary evil. Argh. I will see what I can figure out... I don't wanna.... but, hey, if it prevents me from having that hamstring seize up again, I will do it!!

On which note, I'm off to foam roll and stretch... and bed. Tomorrow is supposed to be a Long Run day (8 miles, at least), and there's a bunch of snow... soo.. who knows what will happen, but I'll give it a go... oo.. maybe I can get some running snow shoes......

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 185:

A much-needed lovely day today, BlogLand. I got up this morning, checked the weather (a balmy 9 degrees...) and was still up and ready to go. I was off to meet a fellow Spartan Chick (Hi, Jessica! Aroo!) in New Hampshire for an afternoon of snowshoe adventures. Temperature and/or snow were not to be a deterrent... we were Spartanized New Englanders, after all!

I did wander around my room a bit this morning, trying to work out the appropriate layering for today's adventure, though. Snowshoeing is one of those activities I struggle with, as it is not always super-strenuous, causing you to have to wear heavier things, but it can get warm as you are moving, so you have to be able to un-layer, etc. Tricky. Hmm.

I settled on some new Under Armour gear I just got. (Review to come in the next few days...) I ended up geared like this:
- Moving Comfort dri-fit shirt (the one I love to run in!)
- (NEW!) Under Armour Cold Gear Tights
- Spartan Race (bulletproof, monsoon proof, blizzard proof) hoodie
- (NEW!) Under Armour AllWeather Gear pants (they're water resistant, etc.)
- mittens, neck warmer, wool socks

I crossed my fingers that this was appropriate layers, packed some "regular" clothes (just in case?), grabbed my CamelBak (hydration is important in the winter, too!) and headed out the door.
(As a random aside, I have come to the conclusion I am incompetent at filling my CamelBak; water everywhere, every time.)

The drive to Enfield was uneventful. A large regular Dunkin Donuts coffee in hand (a pre-req for any road trip, with me), I drove through the slightly slushy mess that we're accustomed to in January, in this part of the world. I swore at the out of state drivers, who kept hitting their brakes, and channeled my Masshole roots, as I gestured at them angrily when then did stupid things... like tailgate me in slippery conditions. (I do actually love road trips. hehe)

Arriving in a little town in scenic NH, I was psyched for today's adventure. I got to finally put a name to a face of a Spartan Chick that I've known (online) for a while, and have a buddy that was up to an adventure - despite the weather! YAY! I was really looking forward to the change from my usual solo WODs.

Jessica and I suited up and set forth, settling into some easy chit-chat about this, that and everything. She'd picked out a great trail for us to head out on - the Rail Trail, which is apparently an old railroad bed, made into a recreation trail. It looked like this:

Our trail was mostly flat, but wound around behind the towns of Enfield and Canaan. (This is going to be an awesome one to come run on, in the spring!!) The wonderful thing about a mostly flat trail that goes on forever, being snowshoed at a brisk pace, in good company, is that you don't really notice miles passing by...

Somewhere about an hour an a half in, and an undetermined amount of miles later, Jessica and I thought we should probably turn around. I turned on the GPS at this point, so we could get an idea of how far we'd gone. As we discussed our race plans for this year, commiserated on our t-rex arms and compared notes on training ideas, we trekked towards home. A little bit more slowly.

Why? Well. As anyone that has ever snowshoed knows, your gait is slightly widened. You have to walk a little weird, so as not to hit your own snowshoes, or step on yourself. This, as you might imagine, works a bunch of random muscles, despite the fact that you are "just walking." Our lovely hour and a half walk OUT, had suddenly reminded us of the fact that we were on snowshoes. Halfway home, my hip flexors made their presence *distinctly* known. This may be ugly tomorrow. (And sadly, the foam roller I ordered is not scheduled to arrive until Monday.)

As we returned home, I determined that my layering tactic for the day was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, and Under Armour FOR THE WIN.
Total Trek: Just about 6.5 Miles (Jess gets a gold star, as this was even her FIRST snowshoe!), at a very steady, upbeat pace.

I think this was just what I needed, today. Life has been really weighing on me, of late, in various ways. It's been stressful and decidedly negatively effecting my training, despite my best efforts to prevent that. Today I got to get outside, get moving and enjoy myself. That, BlogLand, is a wonderful way to get your head back in the game and clear out the stress. It was also nice to trek along at a good pace and *not* be terribly winded. I can remember a couple years ago that I didn't enjoy snowshoeing anymore because, at 284 # and non-active, it was too challenging. I reflected a bit on that, in the quiet drive home.

I have come a long way.
I have a long way still to go, but I am on the right road.

One Day at a time. Tomorrow, it's back to Crossfit in the morning... and perhaps a bit of a run in the afternoon. It has been an inexcusably long time since I stretched my legs.

With that, I'll leave you with some scenery from today's adventures:

I totally EPIC failed at catching the beauty of the frozen dam.

My Challenge to you, BlogLand: Get out there and just have fun. No watches, no GPS trackers, no nothing. Just get out there, enjoy your fitness and health (whatever level that may be).