The day  I dreaded has finally arrived: my students have discovered my blog. It’s my own fault, too. When we read Animal Farm every year, we talk about propaganda, and an option for their unit assessment is to plan a “class revolution.” They have to make propaganda and give a campaign speech about why they should be installed and I should be removed as leader. I love the project, but I feared it would lead them to my blog as they searched for pictures of me. And it did. Sigh. But it’s not like I post anything even kind of scandalous, and I’m sure most of them will forget about it once the project is done, so oh well.

Outside of my propaganda-filled classroom this week, Colorado decided to skip the late-fall cooldown and just leap right into winter. Last Sunday, when we ran Amy’s unofficial half, it was 65 degrees. Wednesday, we never made it over 10. That was abrupt, Colorado. Real abrupt.

Of course, during the week I run on the treadmill anyway because I’m scared of the dark. (I’m not scared of the dark, per se, but I’m scared of distracted drivers and potholes and ice and bad guys, all of which are made worse by darkness). This was a bit of a cutback week — not because I’d really planned it that way, but because it was a busy week and that’s just how it happened. Sometimes it’s nice  to not be training for anything, because unplanned cutback weeks are completely fine. Here’s how this one looked:

Monday: 

Easing back into tempo runs, I warmed up for 20 minutes, ran at tempo for 15 minutes, and cooled down until I hit 5.5 miles. Then I did some core work.

Tuesday: 

I intended to go to the gym to lift… but it was no degrees outside and I have a treadmill in my basement. So… I ran 5 easy miles while rocking out to the Backstreet Boys and watching The Biggest Loser, and then I did the Runner 360 workout.

Wednesday:

7.1 easy miles and some core

Thursday: 

Again, I didn’t go lift because it was cold. Plus, this was a morning workout because I was judging an evening speaking contest at school, and scraping my windshield at 4:30 a.m. sounds pretty dumb to me. So I did another treadmill run (4 miles of hill repeats) and the Runner 360 again.

Friday: 

Another a.m. workout, as my parents came to visit Friday night. 7.2 miles on the treadmill made a good start to my day.

I tried to be super cool and use the camera timer on my phone to take a mid-run picture. Clearly that worked well.

Saturday: 

The ‘rents were in town and it was flipping cold, so I cranked out 3 reps of Runner 360 and called it good.

Sunday: 

I was in dire need of sunshine and fresh air, regardless of how cold, so after my folks left, I checked the temperature:

I layered up and went. I wore tights, pants, a warm top, a jacket, gloves and glove liners, ear warmers, and a neck warmer thing that I pulled up over my mouth. It wasn’t too bad, but I hope the running mittens I ordered come in soon and are warm. My hands are always freezing, and it makes winter running miserable.

I planned to go double-digits, but I decided that could wait until my gloves came in and I was a little more acclimated to this cold business.

Total: 35.9 miles, 3 days of strength but none in the gym

This coming week, I really should get back to the gym. But my basement is so nice….

I’ll also try to be a little better at blogging and reading blogs this week, but it might be rough. I’m an idiot and assigned due dates so that my seniors are turning in essays Monday and my sophomores are turning in projects on Tuesday, so my evenings this week will likely be gradingfests. But Kristin tagged me for a fun little challenge, so I’ll try to at least get that one up. Because mustaches.

Also, if you haven’t signed up for the holiday challenge that Run to the Finish and Sweat Guru  are hosting, go check it out! And if you do sign up, make sure you mention me, because I want prizes. I won’t sugarcoat my desires.

Have a great week, friends!

Is it cold where you are? What’s your favorite piece of cold-weather running gear?