February started with a setback – I got sick with RSV! I was not feeling great the first weekend of the month, by Monday at work (with my mask) I was feeling worse and worse. Lucky there was an opening at the dr office – if there was any medicine to feel better, I wanted it! Tests confirmed RSV; it felt different from covid and as I was talking to coworkers, sometimes I had to turn to cough to catch my breath. I took Tuesday off work completely and by then had a steroid medicine to take. This really helped! The congestion became terrible so I added an allergy medicine in. I skipped the strength and tone fitness class that week. I was hesitant to return to exercise because I didn’t want to setback and I thought I may have only been feeling better because of the medicine.

That Friday I went to the park, primarily to use the cross country skis I got for Christmas from my husband. He wanted to run and I had the low goal of ‘just finishing’ a run. I managed three miles with ‘barely moving’ for the pace on the inclines.

We cross country skied afterwards. You don’t have to pay anything extra if you bring your own equipment. I was excited; we wanted to go earlier in the year when we first got dumped with snow, but alas, as you’ve read, we were sick! Or the weather was bitterly cold to the point of zoo closures, as an example. This was a beautiful sunny day. About three miles in, I was feeling tired – I already had about 45 minutes of rest post-run. It’s the cardio-part of it that had me down, not the strain on the legs. I started to fall from fatigue and took my skis off at one downhill to walk down. I felt that I was too tired to control myself on the steep hill and surely would have wiped out. Still, it was really fun; we went a little more than 4.5 miles. We wanted to go again but so far – no more snow! Which leads us to running!

The next weekend, we met our friend for a run at a State Park. This was our long run of 5.5 miles. It was after several weekdays of warm sunshine and the melted snow made the path slick with ice in spots. We really had to watch our footing in places. I have only hiked the trails here and had not run the paved path before. It was hillier than I remembered. With the cold temps, I doubled my pants up. It felt tough though our average pace was 11:38/mile. I was still coming off the sickness. We picked up doughnuts on the way home.

The Monday coming off the long run was back to a sunny warm day! We must’ve reached temps in the 50s. When I got to the park, it was 48F and gorgeously sunny, though still windy. I had no business running the 6-mile loop, especially so close to the previous long run, but we did. And I loved seeing how many people had the same idea to take advantage of this warmer day. Bonus – I saw Janet and she turned around to keep running back with us. It made for a great run, even though I reached the point of listening vs talking, it was tough running. This time my pace was 10:34/mile. I’d like to think the warmer weather helps and looking at the map of the run with the pace overlay – you sure can see where Janet was running with me! 😉 Great to see her!

At this point in the middle of the month, I’m feeling much better! No more allergy medicine for the congestion. There wasn’t a strength and tone class that week, due to the break in-between sessions. I did my own strength work a few times. I picked up another workout video from the library, another one by Absolute Beginners. 

That Saturday, we went for another long run with our friend at the park near him. This time it was a little over 8-miles and we did the hard hill twice! Looking at the map, it’s a solid half-mile straight uphill, unceasing. Our average pace was 11:36/mile. It was me slowing the group down! It was back to being cold, 32F and more wind. My friend told me about a coffee shop in the area she loves, which was a little motivation for a treat afterwards. I had a café miel; miel is French for honey. It was very good!

The next day, I was feeling energized as it is sinking in that our next big trip with plenty of hikes is only a little over a month away!! I took the weighted vest with me to the treadmill. It had been three full weeks since a Sunday-weighted vest-incline-treadmill walk! I was sick, so that’s why, but I want to “be in-shape” before the trip, not “get in-shape” in the middle of the trip! Does that make sense? Back to it!

I started with a warmup walk with the vest with no incline for one mile. Then I increased the incline by 2 points every ¼ mile until I reached mile 2. Then I decreased the incline by 2 points every ¼ mile until mile 3. Since we would finish the Grand Canyon hike by going UP, I wanted to end the workout on an uphill. Back to increasing the incline by 2 points every ¼ mile until mile 4. I did one more quarter mile rapidly decreasing the incline. Afterwards, I did leg strengthening exercises.

I should try calculating how much elevation I’m covering in these incline sessions on the treadmill. I’m a little afraid it’s going to result in not nearly covering enough practice elevation gain for what we have planned!

February ended with another long run of 6 miles (average 10:35/mile). It was a warm 55F, though windy, felt great to be moving. Again, I loved seeing so many people out walking and kids riding on bikes. The next day, it was still nice – and we went to the park to run.

Now time to keep exercising consistently and be ready for a hundred miles of hiking – that sounds like a great vacation for me!