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Today I received the best news a Teacher could hope for….ok, so I am not getting paid 5 times as much with free health insurance…So I guess this is the second best news a Teacher could receive! A phone call at 5:30 AM on a Friday saying that school is closed because it is too cold outside! That usually means that it will probably be a nice sunny day with no snow to shovel and the freedom to do whatever you want. It also means that I received an unexpected 3 day weekend! Usually if this had happened on any other weekend, I would have packed up and left for home right then. Instead, I slept in and then began working on some homework for a class that I am taking through CMU. Which effectively ruins my weekend by forcing me to sit through the perpetual bordom of current educational issues.
To make things even better for the day though, I decided that I would go out for a run and prove that it is never too cold to do something outside. I bundled up 3 layers deep and hit the road. My layers consisted of: Lower - White Socks
- Spandex tights
- Nike running shorts
- Sporthill Running pants
Upper - Under Armor Thermal
- Nike Dri-Fit long sleeve
- Windproof Cycling Jacket
Extremities This is a tested setup and usually lets me run in the most extreme conditions with minimal discomfort. I did not wear the headgator for the first mile or so and soon realized that I definitely needed to have that up over my face to cut the 10mph wind and –15 windchill! By the time I hit my turn around point, I was warm enough to the point that I was able to take my gloves and the headgator off and unzip my jacket an inch or so. The Microspikes are something that I only started using last winter and cannot believe that I made it that long without them. They grip into ice, snow, slush, dirt, etc and keep my traction when things get sketchy. In addition to running again, I decided to join the One Hundred Pushup challenge again this winter. I started it back in August but stopped when I had the Cross team following a different set of exercises. In the past, I have had issues with my right elbow and a nagging case of golfers elbow (even though I don’t golf!) In addition to this, I also fell on my right elbow last summer during our robotics camp ice skating trip. I really think I broke something on that fall but haven’t had it checked out yet. Anyway, I have never been able to do a continuous set of pushups without failing and being forced to take a few weeks off afterwards. When I started the pushup challenge last summer, I was amazed at how quickly progressed into the 3rd and 4th weeks with no problems at all. Some of the TSB crew have started the 100 pushup challenge and the 200 sit up challenge. I am not a big fan of straight sit-ups because they only work one set of muscles. I am developing my own core challenge based on research that I have done. Many of the exercises are found in the book “The Abs Diet” and every single one of them work at building the core as a whole rather than just the ‘6-pack’. I am also starting to include a pull up regimen so that I don’t forget the other groups of muscles. By the time track starts, I should be an animal! There is only one more month until the first race of this year. I am planning on running the Kahtoola Mountain Race at Pine Knob again this February and am hoping to continue building my fitness into the summer racing season. I am hoping to start getting a few more pictures to add to the posts and make them a little cooler!
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