FFTFL premiere

FFTFL premiere

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Floundering

So, November's race had me down. Finishing last hit hard. Then the holidays hit me even harder. Oh, and then winter had to sucker punch me when I was down. I know it's been insane across the country, but I've only lived on Long Island (except for attending college in Upstate NY) and I have never EVER experienced a worse winter! It's not only been frigid, but we've had umpteen snow storms to boot. Last year we had one major storm that hit the day after Christmas, while everyone was on vacation. This year my kids have used FOUR snow days, along with a couple late arrivals and early dismissals.

While snow shoveling has been a great workout for me, we were running out of places to put the shit!


I've only run 2 races since the half. Charlie, my daughter and myself did a 5k toy trot that was a lot of fun. It was Chelsea's first race and she did great for only having run 1 time before. It was fun to dress up and get together with my Island Running Girls.

Her first race mile!

such CUTE mile markers!

The other race was a 4 mile prediction run put on by my running store, Sayville Running Company, on December 14th. So with a prediction run, you figure out how long it would take you to finish the course and write it down on a slip of paper. You run tech-free and your finishing place is determined by how close your prediction came to your time. The course was side streets that were covered in some ice and snow, so I took it slow, and I finished last, again. That didn't bother me. My knee didn't hurt while I was running and I didn't fall on my fat ass in those conditions, so in my opinion it was a WIN! AND I came in 9th place, so I won a prize! I'll definitely do another prediction run. It was just fun and a good time hanging out at the store with other runners.

My FIRST snow run!


A hard winter, over eating during the holidays and a bummish knee has my weight up. I'm in such a funk. On the last Sunday in January I did a treadmill run at the gym that just did my knee in. I took off almost 4 weeks. I've run/walked a couple of times in the last week and I'm so discouraged. I'm so slow. I'm running about a half a mile at a time to ease myself in. There's no pain during my runs, but a tightness afterwards. I definitely have to get my ass back to the store for new shoes. I have $175 in gift cards from Christmas burning a hole in my pocket, but I just haven't got there. I feel like I can't get out of my own way, running or otherwise.

At the beginning of this month my gym membership was up. I've scoped out a couple other gyms. One had such an amazing deal of $6.95/month I just HAD to check it out. The one perk to this gym was that it offered classes, which my gym did not. Would you believe that that $7 got you a total of 10 hours a week to workout? Yeah. I could go from 11 am to 4 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays every week, ONLY. I actually guffawed! There were other more inclusive offers with two and three year contracts, which just wasn't for me.

Without the gym, I'm struggling to formulate a plan. I have a plethora of workout DVDs (including Insanity!) to choose from and I also got a kettle bell for Christmas. There's no excuse to not workout an hour a day, especially since I have no work at this time, which kind of piled more onto my already full funk plate. Money is tight.

Winging it really isn't working. I need to get a calendar just for my workouts and plot the thing out. With gift cards from all of my shopping through My Points, I have a Fitbit Zip coming tomorrow (!) along with a Jackie Warner exercise DVD. February is almost over and I can not WAIT to turn the page and get my mojo back for March. 22 more days until SPRING!!!!

QUESTION: Has this winter weather crap hit YOU as hard?

7 comments:

  1. This has been the worst few months for me also. I have been sick for most of it, and I sprained my ankle right after Thanksgiving, and it's sitll giving me problems! I haven't run much at all and I am feeling discouraged. My weight is up, my pants are tight, and I feel like I'm sinking. It's very hard to stay under 1500 calories, which I have to do if I want to lose weight without working out hard, like I was used to. Whenever I do an "easy" workout, I feel like crap, because I was running under a 10 minute mile this time last year. I hope things get better for you soon. We've had crappy weather here too. It's just been one thing after another.

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  2. I always liked reading your blog and am happy you posted. Yes, this winter is rough. I'm not a runner, but I have a nice treadmill and elliptical that's gathering dust right now. Just no motivation to do much of anything. I pay for Weight Watchers and don't go to meetings. I've been loosely following plan and it shows - up 15 pounds since Christmas and now I just feel stuck. I HATE blaming the weather, but I do think it's got the best of me this year. I sound like an old hag (at 49), but it's true - I'm just sick of wearing my big, ugly winter coat, wind chills, subzero temps and snow! So many of us are in the same boat - I follow about 10 blogs and it seems like almost everyone is struggling. Thanks again for writing and keep your chin up - Spring is coming...someday.

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  3. Seriously - this winter has sucked the life out of everyone. It is never-freaking-ending!!! I'm so over it too!

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  4. I have no excuse because I live in Florida :) so the workout part totally good, however I found this was the first time that I struggled after the holidays with keeping out the sugar!

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  5. Oh, Linda, we've all been there! You're just as much of a rockstar as ever, you'll find your momentum and step again, you're too awesome not to!

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  6. I hear your struggles, Linda- I've been struggling with a lot of the same for similar reasons. This has been a brutal winter for fitness. You will get back to were you feel comfortable and happy again with your fitness- I believe in you!

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