Snow Day

Yup, it's still winter here and we'll just have to make do and put up with it for a few more weeks. They did a pre-emptive strike at the local schools shutting them down for the day, even though it didn't even start to snow until noon and very little accumulation until about mid-afternoon. I guess they just want to be extra cautious, "But in my day, we never got a day off ...".

So what am I doing out in this you ask? Why didn't I play it smart and get my run in early before it all started? Well a couple of reasons, #1: hate to get up early (only for the long runs), #2: still feeling the effects from the interval workout on Tues with a bit of general tiredness and not looking forward to the ambitious plan in my log for today.

As I posted before, things were great on my 90 minute run on Weds, the day after my mile intervals as I sailed along at an easy pace of 8:10/mi. However, the next day the old DOMS (delayed onset muscle syndrome) kicked in and things were very slow and stiff. All I could manage was a 1hr run at about 8:25 pace but at least the heartrate stayed low. Bonus was the nice sunny day with temperature just around the freezing point (almost balmy!).

Back to the plan. Today it called for a 2 hour run with 6 miles at marathon pace. Sheesh! Maybe if I delay long enough the coach will give me a pass. Oh, I'm the coach! No free pass today. Besides it's not that cold and not accumulating much so let's try the roads 1st. Maybe, I could do part of the run outside in the fresh snow and then finish with the fast miles on the treadmill. Oh and I'd forgot to mention that I'd worked thru lunch and left work early so I could run before the real storm hit. After even more time-wasting, window gazing at the dark clouds and snow, gatorade mixing, and setting up the treadmill along with a change of clothes it was time to go. The 1st part of the run, which turned out to be about 8 miles, was actually rather nice. The temperature was only about -1C (30F) and the driving wind and snow was only an issue for a few open spots where it felt like running in molasses. Besides that I just cruised along at an easy pace mostly on the deserted side roads in town. There wasn't much accumulation yet (less than an inch) and so the footing was good for the most part but not anything to try faster running on. The picture was taken just as I got back from the 1st part of my run.

It was then a quick change and on the awaiting treadmill. After a 1/2 mile warmup it was straight into 6 miles at about marathon pace where I slowly ramped the pace up from 7:30 to 7:13. Ended up with average pace of 7:18 and heartrate of 143 although it was getting to be harder work for the last two miles. All in all it was a decent workout and managed to get my money's worth once again.

Hope you're running is also going well.

Sunday's are good days

First, here's a nice link to the Ottawa Ice Sculpture competition. Click on a carver in the list and you can see the design and some great pictures of the best ones. The competition is ongoing with the masters competition and the amazing snow sculptures can be seen here.

Second, I've been a real slacker with keeping up to date on my blog lately. It's been ridiculous again at work and the first thing that seems to go is writing up the latest happenings. Even my blogline reading and commenting is way behind. However, I'm keeping up the running end of things no matter what and with only 8 weeks to go the end is in sight.

Rewind to last Sunday which seems like ages ago now. The three amigos got in a super fun run on our standard Boyden Lake loop with a Sipayik Trail loop thrown in for good measure. The conditions were decent with good footing, light winds but a little on the cold side at -15C (5F).

Oh yeah, just to put my 2 cents worth about my comment at our little break at the Farmers Market. I must have been getting a little impatient about all the stretching and lolligagging or something as I started up the road with "Let's get this show on the road!". Didn't realize what an impression that this made on 'the boys' but they quickly fell into line and then proceeded to crank things up and put the 'old man' in his place.

Lots of good conversation made it seem like a short easy run but it got a little tough in the last mile or so. I was just hanging on for dear life as Marc picked it up when he started to smell the apple pie and brownies waiting for us at the car. I spent the rest of the day flaked out on the couch rehydrating with whatever could be found in the fridge.

Monday - rest day
Tues - hill workout (profile above) on a local incline called 'The Bunny Hill', not because it's easy but because a local resident raises rabbits and there are often bunnies along the roadside. I only noted one today but maybe they were indoors with the cold and windchill of -25C (-15F). Today's 11 mile slogfest was brutal with the wind but I was well dressed for it (love my new balaclava) and the roads were mostly bare. The hill section of the run was a set of 4x 1/2 mile downhill efforts at a cruising marathon pace which ended up close to 6:30/mile with the steep incline. Slow jog up and repeat then finish with an easy run back to the start.

Weds - another dumb work trip which messed up our Valentines Day plans at home. I now have a big IOU to make up. We had to leave early in order to beat the snow storm that was barrelling up the coast from Downeast no less (not from the Great White North). When we got to Dartmouth there was time to get in an 8 mile run along with a few strides and another run was in the books.

Thurs - up early to get a run in before the meetings but the streets and sidewalks were treacherous with ice and snow. Even with the good old Yaktrax it was tough sledding but managed 6.5 miles without falling down. Pace was near 9 minute though.

Friday - home at last again but the roads are barely plowed and my medium long run was a true slug/slog fest. Again it would have been un-runnable without the Yaks and still nearly fell a few times on the slick roads as I barely managed to get in 11 slow miles with a nasty north wind blowing. I totally agree with Andrew's sentiment, "Enough already with this winter cold".

Sat- blew off any attempt to run in the cold and jumped on the treadmill for a change of pace. After a few miles warmup and a few pickups I was able to put in 5 miles at marathon pace (7:18 avg) and with heartrate below 150. It felt good to move a little faster for a change in just shorts.

Total for the week of 66 miles with 97% of my plan completed. The week was a repeat of what I'd intended last week as the next 5 weeks will be aimed at race preparation. I'm considering running the Hypothermic 1/2 marathon next Sunday in Saint John but may hold off and see how bad (or good) the weather is going to be.

Have a great week everyone!