Bone Chilling Cold

This week has had temperatures below freezing but the sliver lining was a couple days of beautiful sunshine! I planned ahead to run on what would be the sunniest and "warmest" days. Unfortunately the weather man wasn't quite as accurate as I'd hoped. My run was sunny but so cold I couldn't feel my face! I cut my run short because despite my many (warmest) layers I was expelling heat too quickly and not able to warm up. It actually took another hour beside the fire before I fully regained feeling in my extremities.

I was reminded why I used to do hot yoga in the winters! 90 degrees is definitely preferable to 20! I only saw three other people on the trail at a time that is usually incredibly popular...hmm can't imagine why that might have been...

When it took me so long to warm up I imagined it was only because I hadn't dressed warm enough, not because I was starting to get sick. That is, until I worked out with my grandma the next day.

As I've mentioned before, my grandmother come in to work out with me on Thursdays. On this particular day we did similar, though not identical routines.  

We warmed up with 5 minutes on the arc trainer. She was at level 5 and I was at level 15.

Then, since it was leg day, we each set up a circuit. I had my squat rack and a box. She had a 20lb bar and, because the boxes were all a little too high for her, I had stacked up a few plates for her to step up on to. She's not at box jumps yet, but she'll get there! I was also extremely proud of her for moving up from doing squats with a 10lb dumbbell to the 20lb bar this week!

For best results, do the calf raises on the box and make sure to drop your heels (as controlled as possible) below parallel to where your toes are standing on the box.

My grandmother couldn't get down on a mat for the medicine ball V-ups (for obvious reasons) so she did alternating reps of 10 on the oblique twister machine instead (technical sounding, I know). 

For our cool down we spent the last five minutes on a treadmill at a fast walk.

When we'd finished I was completely winded, it was as if I hadn't worked out in months! I even had to knock off 10lbs from what I normally squat in order to not feel crushed by the weight. A workout like this would normally completely wipe out my grandma and be written off as an active rest day for me but it was the complete opposite. She felt stronger than ever and I needed a break!

This was when I decided to take the rest of the weekend off to rest and get my strength back. I went out to the movies with friends - side note, everyone should go see Frozen - then stayed in to catch up on some reading, I got my latest issue of Runner's World Magazine. And taking some time off seemed to work!

 I was back to feeling much more like myself by Monday and bundled up for a quick four miles outside before the sun set. 14 degrees doesn't feel so bad when you keep moving - at least that's what I kept telling myself, it was still pretty chilly out.

I might be sensing a pattern developing but I didn't feel so great again on Tuesday and took the night off with a promise to myself to resume working out by the end of the week. We'll see how that goes....