Decembrrrr...

Balmy.

When I was your age, we had to walk 5 miles to school. Snowin' in the summertime. Uphill both ways. ~ Someone's Grandpa

Thurs: 00:40, 4 miles, treadmill easy
Sat: 00:40, 4.75 miles, treadmill with surges
Sun: 1:55, 13 miles, treadmill/track easy

I have been grossly negligent about posting this past week. Perhaps the cold weather has slowed my mojo or something. Apologies all around.

The treadmill and I have become friendly this past weeks as the temps have plummeted. Thursday, I hit the gym for a post-tempo recovery run and felt great. Really nothing to complain about or remarkable about the effort aside from its genuine lack of any issues. Just jumped on, spun through 4 miles or so, then went home. Good stuff.

I took Friday off then headed up to the Basin with Pete on Saturday morning. We were greeted with chilly temps and fresh corduroy which I used to my advantage spinning blazing laps on my AK Maidens. Not really what the skis were designed to do but they do it admirably. Tip those puppies up on edge and they just accelerate away from you. I hit the gym on the way home to say hello to Mr. Treadmill again and busted out 4.75 miles in about 40 minutes with 5 sets of 1x1 surges. Again, felt awesome.

Sunday, Rach and I headed down to the shelter early to help out with the bunnies and it was cold. And snowy. And windy. Not the best combo. The plan was to drive back home, then jam down to Boulder for a long run but that simply wasn't in the cards with temps and conditions that were not much better than those found at home. So back to the gym for more treadmill action. Spun 8 miles at a leisurely 10-minute pace then hopped on the track for 5 more. 13 total in a bit less than 2 hours. Didn't push it at all and felt smooth. Boredom was the only battle I had to fight, really.

So I'm hoping we get back into some more normal "cold-up-top, warmer-down-below" style weather soon or I am going to have to break out the balaclava and mittens. Running indoors serves its purpose but is not the best companion long-term. I did get my skate boot back from Larry today so I envision some skinny skiing in my not-too-distant future.

~stubert.

Couch-bound...

Keep your icy feet away from me, Mr. Freezey. ~ Akbar... or Jeff... I get those two guys mixed up

Seriously, my feet are like bricks of ice. Gotta get that situation fixed pronto. Rach, go boil some water or something...

Well, today I just feel like going for a run. But it is supposed to be my rest day and realistically, I need the rest, so run I will not. I may just kick the new cat around a little and hope that the impact doesn't shatter my feet.

It was pretty nippy up here last night. 3° to be exact. Which, as defined by Webebster* is nippy. So that makes 3 + 8 = horseshoe. Math... who gets that stuff?

So instead of a thrill-a-minute, action-packed tome about tromping around the woods for 17 hours, today, I'll pick something to review and well... review it, for your reading pleasure. See, I got your back.**

Today's review: The Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover - Mmmmmmmm Pufffy


My new favorite garment of the year is the Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover. That is a lot of words but there is some serious alliteration in there so we can forgive them. It is not only fun to say, but fun to wear and has kept me toasty warm in a wide range of conditions. This awesome jacket proves that good things DO come in small packages as it is amazingly lightweight, packs down to a tiny, easy-to-store bundle, and keeps you warm and dry even when wet. This is the advantage to Patagonia's PrimaLoft One insulation over Down - well, that and no birds are harmed - and it gets the stubert seal of approval. The outer shell is even made from recycled material so that makes, like, three thumbs up which means I need to go out and find a third thumb somewhere. Where's Walter Sobchak when you need him?

Just yesterday, I was removing a foot and a half of snow from our driveway and, as I am known to do, misjudged the wind direction a bit with the snowblower resulting in a seriously coated Stu. No problem for the Nano Puff... I stayed toasty warm. It's like wearing some sort of magical anti-coldness cloak. Now, if I could only get them to make one for my feet...

~stubert.


*Webebster is a completely fictional reference book made up by the author to cement a punchline. I cheat. Sue me. Webebster did.

**Yes, though occasionally I misspell "contemplate", I am not a complete moron and do know that "I got your back" is not correct grammar. Punctuation and where commas and shit go when tossing quotes into sentences, I really need to brush up on that but right now I am in the zone and as I discovered when I startled our cat one time while he was playing with a piece of tinfoil or something, you should never disturb someone who is in the zone... particularly when your nose is within clawing distance.