Date: 12/26/21
Training Day: 21
Miles: 3 (walking)
Weather: High 20s, cloudy, snow on and off
Activity: Shoveling snow

How It Felt: After being a slug on Christmas, it felt pretty darn good to get outside and stretch my legs during my walk. Shoveling snow, on the other hand, was a wee backbreaking. But there’s nothing like getting in a workout while being productive.

Commentary: Spending time with family is great. And it isn’t. You know what I mean. I needed to get out of the house and move around, so I put on all my winter gear and headed out. I downloaded a sort of walking meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh and listened to that on my walk. It helped me to clear my head and get my mood right.

When I got back my dad’s girlfriend said she was heading to shovel. Since the number one reason to shovel is so I can drive out of here in a few days, I figured the least I could do was help. Starting out, my wrists felt like they’d never be able to shovel more than the area immediately around my car.

After a little bit of warming up, I got in a groove and was shoveling all kinds of snow! By the time I my shoveling met up with her shoveling, I discovered why it looked like she covered more ground. I was shoveling almost down to the dirt, and she was leaving a nice layer of white snow. Po-tay-to, po-ta-to.

By the time I finished up I was beat, and my back was killing me. I did some yoga stretches, but they didn’t help. Thank goodness I brought all my “PT gear” with me! I busted out the double ball thing and rolled the shit out of my muscles next to my spine. It felt like magic.

It’s supposed to snow more tonight, but I’m hoping it’s not much because I don’t know if I have in me! And I need to do a regular strength workout tomorrow as well.

Training Journal cross training exercise fitness journal running snow strength trail running training walking