Crappy Weather

has not been fun for running. But I have stayed on course despite the nasty elements. Here is a quick update on my running this week. Tuesday night, had scheduled track work. The problem with the track at the middle school is it's located in the middle of a huge field, so any slight breeze feels completely amplified. Weather was pretty chilly, in the teens, and there was a stiff breeze. Got in 3 miles on the track, 800 meter repeats, started out hitting my first split where I thought I should be at, but quickly my legs tired and every rep got progressively tougher. I usually like to finish strong and attempted to but could barely keep up with my goals splits, which I intentionally did slower to account for my lack of running. The conditions didn't help any, and found myself just struggling all together, so ended the workout before it got worse - definitely wasn't my day. Total mileage: 3 miles - splits were: 2:47, 2:51, 2:52, 2:49.

Wednesday, got home pretty quick and immediately went for a run. Was supposed to snow storm that night, so wanted to get something in as quick as I could. Weather was cold, but not awful - high 20's/low 30's, and as still as could be! I think it was the calm before the storm or something? Anyways, went sans Garmin, got out on the trails and did a loop. The skies seemed lighter, so could still see even though it was dark, so stayed on the trails. Went at a comfortable pace, and never pushed it too hard. Felt good when I was done, could have kept going for a while quite frankly. Stretching, pushups and corework afterwards. Total mileage: 6 miles - total time was between 46-50 minutes.

Thursday, had snowed a few inches, and decided to suck it up through the ridiculously windy conditions. Strapped on my yax-trax I bought last year - for those not familiar, it's basically a plastic web thingy that you strap on to the bottom of your shoes. There are springs on the bottom which help with traction. Anyways, wanted to do tempo but was impossible given the snow and ice on the roads, not to mention 25 mph winds. Temperature was in the teens, so wasn't pretty. Did the trail loop, couldn't push the pace because of the snow. When I got on the trail, it was a sheet of snow and kept hitting miscellaneous drifts here and there which slowed me down. Was fine going out since it was downwind, but when the trail opens out a couple miles out it got pretty rough. Coming back, spent half the time with my eyes shut and just trying to get through it. Hills were brutal because I was still slipping a little but the yak-trax did help a ton! Was exhausted when I was done and felt like I had run 15+ miles, but certainly pleased to get in a great effort. Total mileage: 6 miles - total time out was 50-56 minutes.

Day off today, much needed after 20 rough miles. Tomorrow's long run is TBD pending weather/road conditions, and plan on a little something on Sunday. TGIF!!!