I’m writing this in my living room on a Saturday afternoon. My headphones are on and I’m listening to smooth jazz because Katie is watching HGTV. I don’t know how that woman relaxes by watching work, but whatever works for her. I could go down to the studio but it’s cold. Too cold for me, even, so here I am in my thick hoodie.

We received another cold snap in East Tennessee this week, bringing with it some snow and bone-chilling temperatures. I skipped my run on Thursday because it was cold and windy, then I skipped my gym workout on Friday after seeing my weather app say “Feels like: 6°.” As a former trainer and coach, I know that nothing is going to happen to my training if I skip a workout – even two – but I’ve been doing this so long that I get really weird about it if I miss. Regardless, it’s been too damn cold to leave the house.

Either way, I still got my two long runs in since the last update. The day after Valentine’s Day, I braved the cold, the wind and the rain to get in my second eight-mile run of the program. Unfortunately, the run the week prior was very nice and I felt very confident afterward, but that V-Day eight-miler was torture. I normally love the rain and the cold didn’t bother me, it was just a bad run. My endurance was trash, my feet hurt and the route I took was seemingly uphill both ways. The only thing that got me through that run was knowing Katie had promised me breakfast when I got home.

I was grateful for it. We enjoyed a heart-shaped strawberry brioche roll from a local German bakery with multiple cups of well-deserved coffee. We spent the day grocery shopping (walking slowly because I was tired of moving fast … and was very sore), then made our own pasta for dinner. Ever since we learned the art of scratch-made pasta under Chef Federico in Montepulciano during our Italy trip, we’ve been dying to do it ourselves. That night, not only did we throwback to our time in beautiful Italia with homemade pici and authentic tomato sauce, we also cracked open a bottle of wine we brought back from Tuscany and arranged a gorgeous charcuterie platter that featured another item from our trip: truffle honey. I would marry it if that wouldn’t be weird.

As previously stated, I skipped my second short run of the week, but I did get one four-miler in on Tuesday. It was boring since I chose to do loops around one of my local parks instead of going on a proper out-and-back route, but four miles is four miles no matter how run run them!

Today’s nine-mile run, however, was really good. The temperature was in the low 30s but the sun was shining and felt warm against my face. I headed out in my short shorts, my running jacket over a base layer and Rancid tee, then my running gloves. I also had a pocket of honey gels for mid-run fueling. I kept it slow and low, not feeling much fatigue until I got near mile six. At that point, I sucked down my final honey pack and pushed up the final huge hill, being very proud of myself for maintaining a consistent pace …

… and then the run started to suck.

While I said a long time ago that mobility was a big part of my training, I’ve really fallen off. And after the bad Valentine’s Day run, I said I was going to focus more on it, yet I didn’t. As I approached mile eight today, my IT band began threatening me with divorce. From my hip, down my outer hamstring and all the way to my left knee, my body was very upset. I tried to push through it but ended up doing very short intervals for the final mile. I even stopped during mile eight to get in a quick stretch. I don’t know if it helped, but it got me back to the truck and therefore the finish line, which is all that really mattered. Luckily I picked up the pace a bit during my final intervals so even though I added some walks to my final mile, my average pace didn’t change overall.

Other updates: Yes, I am for sure going to work on mobility DAILY from now until this race is over. My IT band can’t take much more. Also, I’ve started experimenting with indoor cycling after my strength training to push me in a different way and add a few more miles in a faster manner than just walking on a treadmill.

Next week, my long runs hit double digits! If you’re wondering, hell yes I’m scared! But let’s just focus on this week’s tracker: 

Road Trip Tracker
Road Trip Mileage	Total Mileage	Percentage Complete
1,284.37	172.818	13.46%
Miles to Roros	Leg Mileage	Percentage Complete
164.042	48.058	29.3%
Date	Type	Distance (Miles)
2/10/2025	Carryover	10.428
2/10/2025	Strength Day Walk	1
2/11/2025	Weekday Run	4.01
2/12/2025	Strength Day Walk	1.5
2/13/2025	Weekday Run	4
2/14/2025	Strength Day Walk	1.5
2/15/2025	Long Run	8.12
2/17/2025	Strength Day Walk	1.5
2/18/2025	Weekday Run	4
2/19/2025	Strength Day Cycle	3
2/22/2025	Long Run	9

43 days until race day!

Alltid Videre!

-JTF