Running Inside

I'm training for the Knoxville Marathon right now. I follow a training plan called First to Finish that works well for me because it varies the workouts and mixes in cross-training. I don't think it makes me faster, but it sure minimizes injury. I've had one significant injury in the last 3 marathons I've trained for and that was because I stepped on a grape stem in our kitchen that went into my foot, got infected and kept me from running for a few weeks.

One thing I have noticed in the past few years, as I've entered in my upper-30's, is that my body just won't take running in the cold. It used to I love to run in the cold. I actually looked forward to winter because I can run faster in the cold. My PR for a 10 miler (which isn't impressive) was done on a 20 degree day.

Now, if I run outside for more than an hour in temperatures below 45 degrees, I have about a 50/50 chance of coming down with a sinus infection. A couple of years ago, I was constantly battling sinus infections and just went from one to another. I tried to blame my son for them but when I stopped running outside in the winter, they seem to have gotten much better.

One thing about running inside on a treadmill is that it is deadly boring. I usually combat this by watching an NFL game while I run. They last about 3 hours, which is plenty long enough and if one game is a wash, there is usually another interesting game on. In this inter-playoff week before the Super Bowl, I had to watch bowling. I was actually sort of hoping for a heart attack so I could stop running. I'm going to look at the bright side: I finished my 14 miles and now I know who the all time leader in bowling victories on TV is. Sweet.