Brrrrrr. It’s cold outside.

Mother Nature has sure had a bee in her bonnet about something this winter hasn’t she? I went to sleep last night with my fingers crossed for a “snow day” (aka a day where the roads were “too dangerous” to make the 20 minute drive into work), but woke up to a wet, slushy mess and 2 degree temperatures. The inner child in me was devastated. No snow day.

Anyways, despite getting off to a slow, sleepy start this morning, I’m determined it’s going to be a productive one. With less than 4 days to go until the Chilly Half Marathon, it’s all systems go for getting some last minute running in, hydrating like a crazy person, eating really well and getting 8 hours of sleep. Or, you know, as close to 8 as can reasonably be expected anyways. My plan is to be in bed on Friday and Saturday night well before 10pm.

When Matt and I flew out to Winnipeg for my last half marathon (and Matt’s full marathon), I seriously don’t think I’ve ever slept so much or so well in my entire life. I got 10 hours of sleep both Friday and Saturday night, and also napped for a couple of hours during the days?! It was like I had reverted back to an infant or something, it was freakin’ fantastic. I woke up at 5am for the race start on Sunday morning bright eyed and bushy-tailed chirping about how “I didn’t know why I felt so awake so early in the morning!” The rest of Matt’s family was somewhat amused by that.

That half marathon in Manitoba was by far the best race I’ve ever run from a time perspective, a recovery perspective and also just from a pure enjoyment perspective. I was really happy the whole race, didn’t really suffer at all, had my head up and was taking in the scene as I ran….it was a good race for me. I don’t really know if all that sleep had anything to do with it, but some of Matt’s weird, neurotic goalie tendencies are creeping into me a bit (somebody help me) and I kind of feel like I should repeat all actions I took before the last race to help my chances!!!

So…in bed before 10pm both Friday and Saturday night. Done deal.

I got in a really great treadmill run this past Sunday morning and ran 9.3 miles (or 15km) in 95 minutes. There is a new love in my life. And his name is “my treadmill”. Oh baby, this thing is the greatest. I bought the Livestrong LS8T treadmill when it was on sale for 75% off just before Lance Armstrong’s big confession on Oprah, and my oh my, Lance may be a doper, but damn the man makes good treadmills.

First of all, the treadmill is heavy as HELL, it’s really super sturdy. Moment to appreciate my dad, Matt and my brother Andrew for lifting that sucker and carrying it down a very twisty turny flight of stairs and setting it up for me!!! I felt like I was running on a treadmill at the gym compared to the typical lighter and a bit more flimsy treadmills that are sold for home use.

Second of all, it has this awesome feature where you can actually adjust the firmness of the terrain that you run on to “Firm”, “Neutral” or “Soft”. God bless you Lance. You understand the woes of knee injuries. I flipped the dial all the way to “Soft” which increased the bounciness of the treadmill a bit (although not too drastically). I know that it might be more advisable to actually use a firmer setting to better simulate and prepare my body for the road, but as I’m just coming off a pretty serious injury, my goal right now is to make it to the START line of the race. And that means being nice to my joints as much as possible.

Thirdly, the treadmill comes with this handy dandy little cord that you can attach to your iPod and actually play the music through two speakers on the treadmill!!! LOVE!!! A total music addict, I find it really tough to exercise without music, BUT it’s a total pain in the butt to hold onto your iPod while you run (and don’t even get me started on those arm band things – they never stay put, and you can’t change the song!!). I freakin’ LOVED that you could play the music through the treadmill itself and run with free hands!! Also I’m sure it’s better for your ears to not have loud music blaring in them for 95 minutes, and this way you can sing along to the songs without feeling like a total idiot. Yes, I do that.

Last of all (I know right, I’m STILL talking about how much I love this treadmill), the treadmill is super smart. There’s an interface screen where you can plug in a USB and it will automatically log and save your workouts, and then challenge you to do better next time with messages encouraging you to go for your personal best, or increase the speed to beat your previous time. When we discovered this last weekend, Matt’s little brother Scott says “Woah, it’s like a video game!” I concur. The screen also “knows” that maybe you need some extra encouragement at the end of your run, and with 2 miles left to go, I got a message across the screen saying “YOU CAN DO IT!!” and the volume on the music speakers increased a little bit!!

So long story short – I love my treadmill. Although I got it for basically nothing, I would pay full price for it in a HEART BEAT if I had to. It’s well worth the money.

I’m planning to do an easy 5km run tonight before my Pump class, and then a really short 3km run on Friday afternoon, and that will about do it before the race on Sunday.

Matt’s brother Neil and his girlfriend Jess are going to be in town this weekend for the race as well and it should be a fun weekend!! I’m really excited for it, there’s nothing better than the atmosphere of a race weekend. Now it just needs to hurry up and get here already!!

Do you know anyone running the Chilly Half Marathon or the Frosty 5K in Burlington this weekend?! If so, good luck to them (or maybe it’s you?!). 🙂

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