Cold Weather Running Essentials (Southern Edition)

Cold weather (I mean really cold weather) and life down south don't really go hand in hand. Yes, we do have our cold (to us) days and our random and super rare snow days, but those are only a handful a winter. If there's one thing you CAN bet on with winter time in the south, it's this....

As runners, we have to learn how to deal with and adapt to all types of weather conditions - especially with traveling out of town or for a long run during one of those random really cold weather snaps. So, how does this Louisiana girl brave the cold? Here's my cold weather running essentials, southern edition!

#1 Appropriate attire

For me, this includes ear muffs, gloves, and layers!  Sometimes, it's even cold enough that I don't have to shed any of it, even during a half marathon!

This happened to be one of those super rare snow days I mentioned above - and it was my highest mileage weekend for Dopey Training! It actually snowed and the snow stuck for an additional day which I've never seen happen here!

#2 Throw away gear

This tip and tip number one go hand in hand! Raid your local stores at the end of winter for discount sweatshirts. I seriously have a bag stuffed with all different color sweatshirts from previous end of winter sales! They truly make a world of difference at the beginning of a race while standing around, waiting for the race to start. Once you warm up during the race, you can toss your sweatshirt to the side. Most race organizations pick these up to donate to those in need!

Speaking of adapting to crazy weather...how about the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend of 2010 where it sleeted mid half marathon and water stations were iced over for the full? Hello first half marathon! Thankfully, this newbie runner took the suggestion of a friend to snag a sweatshirt from Walmart literally hours before leaving for the trip! Also, I never shed any of my layers during this race and was super grateful for all of them!

#3 Treadmill

I've thought about selling it many times in the past, but it's a necessity for me. Although I'm not a fan of running on a treadmill, it definitely comes in handy sometimes, especially on super cold days!

#4 Hot Hands

Y'all, these things are life savers! You can find them in the sporting goods/hunting section of most stores and they work like a charm. They are single use packs and once exposed to air, they warm up really quickly. I use them even for races (like this past weekend in New Orleans) where it's just slightly chilly at the start and I toss them once I'm warm. If you haven't used them, seriously get some!

...and that's all I've got for now! Running in the winter months can be tricky to plan, especially because of the way the weather changes around here!

Switching topics - this weekend, y'all! We leave THIS WEEKEND for Disney World! I am so excited and cannot wait!

Stay tuned for a Princess Half Marathon costume reveal coming up tomorrow! I finally finished it last night and cannot wait to share it with all of you! Have a great Tuesday!

Join Kookyrunnerand Zenaida every Tuesday for the Tuesday Topics Linkup!

Snow Day In Louisiana Take 2

In a rare and incredibly crazy set of events, Southwest Louisiana experienced snow once again yesterday.

 
 Snow.

Twice in one season, about 5 weeks apart.

In the south.

The deep south.

I still can't quite believe it!

On Monday afternoon, we were notified that schools were going to close the following day due to the crazy weather predictions. Well, Brayden was scheduled to attend Mother's Day Out on Tuesday (which was also closed due to the weather) and since everyone else was working, I ended up with a "snow day" myself! By mid-morning, the sleet started to fall and continued to do so the remainder of the day. It began to snow around 4 o'clock yesterday evening and to be honest, I was shocked to see it once again! Y'all have no idea, this is seriously unheard of here, and to have it twice in one season...say what?

As soon as I saw the snow, I bundled Brayden up and took him outside to play in it!

He had a blast and loved crunching in the snow with his boots!

If you remember back last month, snow stayed on the ground for two days and as I ran my half marathon, I saw snowmen all over town. Yesterday's snowfall wasn't near the accumulation we had in December, but it was still fun to play in!

My dogs weren't quite sure what to make of it! Aren't puppy prints in the snow just the cutest thing? :)

For a look back, here's a snapshot of December's Louisiana snow fall. Isn't it crazy how much it snowed that day?

We definitely didn't have near this amount of snow yesterday, but it was still fun to see! We are cutting our day at work short today and instead of starting early, we are starting around lunch time when it's hopefully warmed up a little more and it's safer for people to be on the roads.

Our entire town shuts down every time it ices over like this which is totally understandable because we aren't used to this at all!

How does my husband feel about all of this cold and snow?

Well, I'll let you be the judge of that! Hah!

How has your winter been? Do you regularly see snow or is your area like mine where it's an exciting event every time it snows?

Vlogidays Weekend Edition #4

This holiday season is seriously flying by! I can't believe it's only two weeks until Christmas!

Throughout this past weekend, I shared our crazy snow day with you as well as my long run, time spent with family, and our church production of The Grinch! It was another fabulous weekend where we made amazing memories that I know will last forever (and I'm not just saying that...we really had an amazing weekend)!

Thanks for sharing in our holiday weekends this year with us! We hope you're enjoying all the special moments this season has to offer!

If you've missed previous any Vlogidays videos, check them out on the Vlogs Tab located in the header at the top of the homepage!

20 Mile Saturday (Swamp Stomp Half Marathon)

With a 20 miler officially in the books, I can honestly say that I'm feeling slightly more confident for Dopey Challenge in January. The snow on Friday evening threw a huge kink in my original plans. I wanted to get up super early, drive downtown to the area where the race was going to take place, and run 7 miles around there. After processing the idea, I decided that probably wasn't a very good one because it would be super dark, freezing temps, and possible ice patches on the road. I did NOT need to slip and break something!

Instead, I woke up early and hopped on the dreaded treadmill at my house to run 7 miles. I was actually thinking of selling that thing but it's come in handy here over the past few weeks so maybe I won't. Hah.

My parents also watched Brayden which was a huge help to me. I was going to have them bring him out there for the finish of the race but decided against it once it snowed!

So, I laid all of my race clothing out the night before. I also wore a different set of clothing for the treadmill run so I wouldn't freeze to death from sweaty clothes once I got to the race start.

This is what I woke up to....26 degrees! Some of the snow from the day before had melted away but a lot still remained which was really neat to see! Snow that lasted two days here? Unheard of!

To date, this is the second longest treadmill run I've ever done. My first was in 2012 when I was training for Goofy Challenge and had to run a 9 miler on the treadmill.

People kept asking me..."how are you going to do this on Saturday morning" and my response was..."well, I just gotta wake up and not think about what I'm doing and just go out and do it"....and that's what I did!

I made it to the race start with six minutes to spare. Thankfully, I'd picked up my race packet the night before! After convincing myself to get out of my warm car, I walked up to the start line and thankfully didn't have much time to wait...we were off and running before I could get too cold.

As we ran through the local neighborhoods, we spotted various snowmen that were still somewhat standing. Seriously y'all....seeing snow that was still standing from the day before was hilarious! That has NEVER happened in my lifetime!

It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a long run! I never had to shed any parts of my clothing at all, including my gloves or ear muffs.

As we ran downtown, we would hit these cold patches where the temps seemed to drop more in that spot than others. It was there where we would see bigger snowmen that weren't quite so melted.

Like this guy for example!

I only experienced mild hamstring discomfort while running and my IT bands didn't bother me too much. I forgot to foam roll as much as I should have this past week so that was my fault. Oh well.

In total, this run took 80 minutes for the 7 miler and 2:34 for the 13.1 miler. Total time of 3:54. Not too bad for my overall long run time as compared to previous years!

After crossing the finish line, I started talking to an old neighbor I grew up with when I heard my name...it was my DAD! He surprised me!!

It was so sweet of him to come out and support me! Love that guy!! :)

After taking a few finish line photos, we decided we were getting too cold and decided to head home. This race didn't do finishers medals, it did finishers jackets...and I registered too late to have one on race day. Whomp whomp. Oh well...hopefully it'll be available in a few weeks!

While my mom was at home watching Brayden, she made us breakfast!!

Yum!

I loved everything about Saturday morning! The race was a great one and I loved having breakfast with my parents after the race!

Another one down for Dopey Challenge! I'm feeling better and better about the race after each training run I complete!

Dopey Challenge Training Week 22

My training this week was INCREDIBLY lackluster. The weather turned yucky which then turned icy and crazy enough, turned to SNOW this morning! I even busted out a treadmill run this week, which means I'm pretty desperate and have zero motivation. I missed one of my planned training runs this week but added a bit of extra cross training instead. When my only option is the treadmill, I seriously have to drag myself onto it and convince myself it's a good idea. Bad, I know...

 
Currently Training For:

• Dopey Challenge 2018 - Walt Disney World
• Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon 2018 - New Orleans, LA

Saturday - 8 mile run

Sunday - Rest Day
Monday - Cross Training
Tuesday - 3 mile treadmill run
Wednesday - Rest Day
Thursday - Squats/Lunges/PT with cross training
Friday - Squats/Lunges/PT with cross training

On Saturday morning, I ran an 8 mile training run and it was a gorgeous day! The weather was perfect!!

After the run, my friends and I traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to visit a plantation home! We had a great girls day and I enjoyed hanging with them! :)

It's been a busy week along with the crazy weather, so I decided on Tuesday that if I didn't jump on the treadmill, I probably wouldn't get to run at all. So, a treadmill run it was! Honestly, it wasn't terrible, I would just much rather run outside. It has to be pretty crazy conditions to make me choose a treadmill over outside!

This morning, I received a 5 a.m. text message from one of my friends telling me to go outside because it was snowing. Y'all. SNOW...in Southwest Louisiana. This is unheard of. It's maybe only legit snowed here like twice in my lifetime and definitive not like this! It was coming down hard!!

I couldn't believe it!

Yes, we get excited about snow! Schools were also canceled for a super rare "Snow Day"!

I just HAD to build a creepy little snowman! Once in a lifetime, right?!

SNOW!

The frozen conditions here are going to make tomorrow incredibly interesting. So, I'm scheduled to run my 20 mile training run for Dopey Challenge tomorrow. My plan is to run 7 early am miles followed by a half marathon around town.  Crossing my fingers I don't finish like a popsicle!

Ok, now I'm off to wake Brayden up so he can play in it too! Who knows when we will see this again!

Have a fabulous Friday!

Another Louisiana Snow Day

Yes you read that right…ANOTHER Louisiana snow day in less than a week! What is happening here?

In the past, we’ve gone years between bouts of sleet or snow and so far this year, we’ve had two (today makes three) days off work because of icy conditions!

Apparently, the thought of a few snow days causes panic in the hearts and minds of southerners. In turn, this causes a mad rush to the local grocery stores to purchase all the bread and milk available. Seriously, you would have thought a hurricane was coming with the way the parking lots were on Monday afternoon on my way home from work. I chose to refrain from partaking in the madness.

 

Our local news station posted the above photo of a nearby Albertson’s.  Yes, we are insane I know.

…and now I give you, the SneauxPocalypse of 2014!

In my area, that’s it. We received about 9 hours of sleet and no snow.  Again, I didn’t get to build a snowman. Sad times.

The freezing temperatures did cause closures of many roadways and bridges – they didn’t want a repeat of Friday…

Scary roadways = scary drivers!

To pass the time yesterday, I washed clothes and caught up on magazine reads.

I’ve been slacking since September…whoops.

Speaking of whoops, I made a few yesterday -

My Breadman, oh how I loathe thee. The aromas of freshly baked bread filled the air and caused me to eat irrational things. Never. Again.

The final whoops of the day…

I bit the bullet and registered for the Royal Family 5K during Disney’s Princess Half Marathon Weekend! I figured I would be out at the race site anyway to cheer on my husband and my parents so why not? Can’t wait for a fun-filled weekend of running!

These past few days have shown me that I’m way to ADD to stay at home with nothing to do. (Working from home or having kids at home would be a different story since I would actually have something to do.) I’m so glad I have things to keep me busy throughout the day on a regular basis!  I have a feeling by the end of tomorrow, I’ll be caught up on my scrapbooking and several closets will be organized! :0)

What do you do on snow days? If you live in the south, have you ever had a “snow” day?