If you have been following my posts over the past couple of weeks, you may remember that I ran a half marathon this past Sunday. I wanted to recap how that went, because hey – I ran a half marathon in February! 

The race day started out well. I woke up early, got all of my things in order, and arrived at the race about 50 minutes before the start. It was in Massachusetts, so the weather was always a wild card factor. I think we really lucked out – high 20s F or low 30s F with some flurries. Loads better than rain.

The race started promptly at 10 AM.  I finished in 2 hours 29 minutes, so about 11 minutes and 24 seconds per mile.  This was certainly not any kind of record, but I am happy that 1) I finished, 2) I trained throughout the winter, and 3) I am in good shape to start training for my next race.

I want to compete in a duathlon in May. After I gave myself a few days of rest from exercise, I set up my training schedule for that event. Filling in the calendar, I realized that I should start training this week. Perfect timing! I ran today and plan on getting in some good workouts this weekend, although it might be a week or two before I can get my bike out from the snowed-in shed.

Reflecting back on the race (and how sore I was afterward), I realized that I hadn’t weight lifted enough during training. So I actually have lifted twice this week, right on schedule with my training. I forget how much I love it!  It feels so good to have strong, sore muscles.

That’s where I am at. What do you guys do to stay in shape in the winter?  Anyone want to share their training stories?  Shout it out.

Oh, and Happy Weekend!