New Year, New Gear!

The first three runs of the new year are in the books!

My New Year's Day run was supposed to be a quick three miles, but due to some miscalculations on my part turned into a nice four miles, followed by about a mile and a half walk home.

Before I headed out I suited up with a bunch of the running gear I scored at Christmas. A new buff, a new long sleeve base layer, new warm running socks, and a new UnderArmor Cold Gear Infrared vest. This was my first time running in a vest, and I was a little nervous about it's ability to keep me warm. It was cold out. And windy.

I started out going uphill, on a hill I usually walk up. It was definitely good for a warm up. By the time I got to the top, I was nice and toasty. I ran along part of the route I used to take when I was running to my parents, but turned at about a mile and a half, down a street that I thought would make up a short leg of a square. Most of the first part of my run was spent running headlong into the wind, which was gusting kinda strongly. I was really grateful for my buff, which, when pulled up over my nose kept the wind from making it hard to breathe.

I totally misjudged how far that leg was going to be. I hit the three mile mark right after turning the next corner. But I was still feeling good, and the vest was doing it's job and keeping me warm.  The wind was less of a factor at this point, which was nice.

When I made the next turn in my run, I could tell I was starting to run out of gas. I hadn't planned on a long run, so I hadn't fueled for a long run, and I hadn't brought any fuel with me, only my (also new) handheld Nathan bottle with water in it. I was also running out of water, so I decided to push through to four miles, and walk the rest of the way home.

Honestly the hardest part of the run was that walk home. I should have called for a pick up, but you know, pride and all that. That was one cold walk, although the only parts of me that got really cold were my upper arms and my legs (I was stupidly only wearing the one layer on my legs.) The walk was also the only time that I really felt the cold, so score one for the running vest!

All in all it was a great first run of the year, even if the wind did slow my pace a bit.

The other two runs so far were just treadmill runs, five miles on saturday and three on sunday. Nothing special really, except that I really felt good during and after each run. It was nice to be able to make the decision, while running on saturday, that I had enough in me to do the full five miles (I had the option of doing the long run saturday or sunday.)

Today actually marks the start of me officially logging my training in my training journal. Which is weird because it's a rest day. I thought about starting the log on a different day, but my training plan starts on a monday, with a "foam roller/rest" day. So I'm going to start my log tonight with an entry for a foam rolling session. I'm also starting on week 3 of the training plan, since last week I did the milage for week 2.

I've also been rocking the fitbit charge. I've been working on hitting my steps goals, which I've hit every day I've run, but missed the day I did not run (hmmmm.....going to have to work on that.) So far I like it, but I'll have to give it more time before I can give a solid review.

Taken right after I came in from the Epic NYDay Run.