Last week was a strong training week that culminated in a fantastically fun snowshoe race on Saturday. But the beginning of the week was not so strong. After Monday's workout: a short run and cross training, my back seized up and was incredibly tight. I think I overdid it with the cross training, too many exercises that put strain on the low back: burpees, bent-over reverse fly, static squat with triceps kickbacks, bridge pose etc. I think it was the burpees that did it, I was rushing through and not properly bracing my core and back and got sloppy. Tuesday morning I woke up super stiff. My lower back was wound tight. I tried to run but didn't make it past .76 miles. I made an emergency trip to the chiropractor and almost immediately felt better. Here's how the week stacked up:

Monday: Four miles easy on the treadmill and cross training. Note to self: don't rush burpees.

Tuesday: attempted run, rest day.

Wednesday: Four miles outside in the morning. I felt stiff at first but then was able to really get a good stretch in after. By the time track rolled around I felt loose and my back felt much better. Track in the afternoon: one mile warm-up, 2000m, (3 min jog recovery) 2x1000m (1:30 min jog recovery), 2000m and a one mile cool down. The 2000m was 12.5 laps around the indoor track. It was a challenge to keep the pace steady and finish strong. Especially on the last 2000m. I also miscounted the laps for the 1000m so I ended up running longer. But the paces were strong, not super fast, but strong.

Thursday: Six super frozen miles outside. My back was feeling good, back to normal.

Friday: 16 miles on the treadmill. My longest treadmill run to date. I saved the season premier of Downton Abbey for such an occasion as this. It helped a bit, but honestly I almost quit at mile 10. And just when I was starting to convince myself that I could finish the remaining 6 miles in the afternoon I got a surprise text from my friend Michele, encouraging me to finish strong. It was exactly what I needed.

Saturday:Kingman Farm Moonlight Snowshoe Race. 4.43 miles in the woods at night. You can read my full recap here. But this finish-line picture says it all. I ended up finishing third female. You can read my full race recap HERE. If you want to see more pictures from the race to get a good idea of what it was like you can click HERE.

Sunday: Rest

I took a second rest day on Monday and then managed eight miles on the treadmill yesterday. I've been fighting some sort of a cold for over a week now. It started sometimes last week and has never really materialized into a real cold, just sinus congestion, runny nose, dry throat. Bleh. I opted to take my run inside yesterday. I was all suited up at 5am and just knew if went out into the five degrees whatever has been lingering and threatening would turn into a full blown something, so I put my PJ's on and crawled back into bed. Hopefully it will resolve itself and I'll be back to 100% in no time.

How is your training going? How do you handle those threatening colds that haven't yet materialized?

--Sarah

I love connecting with readers! You can contact me here:

Email: RunFarGirl [at] gmail [dot] com

Twitter:@Run_Far_Girl

Instagram: instagram.com/runfargirl

Facebook:Facebook.com/runfargirl262

Pinterest: pinterest.com/runfargirl

Daily Mile:dailymile.com/people/scanney