Winter vs Will Power

It is winter here in the greater Cincinnati area which means slush; snow, ice, wind, but mostly slush. This has forced me indoors for my training. Now, originally I’m from Boston, MA so the cold doesn’t bother me, and I often complain about my fellow Northern Kentuckians being unable to deal with inclement weather, but I find myself unable to run outdoors for three reasons:

One, you can’t go for more than a quarter-mile in Northern KY without running into a steep hill, and I want to run not play Slip-&-Slide.

Two, as high of a tolerance as I have for the bitter chill (I tend to sport shorts year-round, and before I got married the thermostat was set to 58° all winter) there’s one thing I cannot tolerate cold wet feet. I don’t mind wet feet, or cold feet, but I cannot stand cold wet feet.

Three, I was hopping to start experimenting with barefoot running; which further exacerbates reasons one and two.

So, winter, again places me in the gym. Which isn’t so much a complaint as a concern. You see; I feel very at home in the gym almost too at home. Back in college (pre-parenthood, pre-marriage, pre-career) I spent nearly as much time working out as I did anything else: studying, partying, hanging-out, etc. This was a time in my life when I was bench pressing twice my body weight, lifting the back end of my truck up off the ground, moving furniture for friends (that was somewhat of a crowd favorite). I wasn’t that big, but I was strong and I felt powerful, and it felt great. Since then, I’ve been back in the gym for brief 3-9 month surges of commitment before life pulls me back out. And during those stints of lifting, I fall in to that same passion of my college days; the power and joy of hoisting ridiculous amounts of weight in the air. However, now I’ve dedicated myself to the serious attempt of becoming a runner. Making weight-lifting a distraction to that goal. When you have precious little time to devote to fitness, it’s easy for a (ex-)weight lifter to spend all of that time working his different muscle groups. So after much self-bargaining I allow myself light lifts for my upper-body on running days, and once a week I do an intense leg lift that leaves me incapacitated for 2 days. But I still miss it; especially since all of the cardio equipment at my gym is located on a balcony that overlooks the weight equipment. So now I am forced to watch people lift weights while I run on a treadmill (my least favorite method of running). While I know that I made the right choice, I still have that desire to skip the run and get a great lift in (everyday). It’s like being married your wife taking you to the Victoria Secret Runway Show (not that I’ve experienced that, but I imagine the feeling is comparable). So I suppose a more apt title for this entry would be “Winter and Weight-Lifting vs Will Power.”