The weather here in Illinois has been typically Midwestern the last five days. Thursday night and Friday morning we got 11.5 inches of snow dumped on us. Saturday was clear and in the mid-thirties. Sunday was a little warmer. Monday brought us temps in the mid-50s and fog that can only be classified as "pea-soup". Visibility was about a tenth of a mile and there were plenty of idiots driving around without their lights on. I went to the track to run a workout, and to avoid playing silly games with my life by running on the roads, but the track was covered in water and slush. I ran a lap, decided it was pointless and went home to use my Total Gym. Tuesday brought us temps in the mid-30s, cold, cold rain, thunderstorms and prodigious lightning. Again, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and after feeding my wife and son I went to play a few games of pool with two of my friends. I suck at pool and the four beers I drank didn't ameliorate the agony of my suckiness. I still won two games because my opponents scratched on their eight-ball shots. They were hollow victories.
I offered myself a bit of succor by inflicting Tom Waits, The Misfits, Dinosaur Jr., Against Me!, and AC/DC on the unwitting pool sharks in attendance.
Tonight I returned home from work to temperatures in the low-thirties, scattered snow showers, 16 mph winds out of the NW that gusted to 24 and a wind chill of 18 degrees. I threw together a tater-tot casserole in record time and drove to the Middle School track after tossing said casserole in the oven.
I warmed up with mile in 7:54 and 800 meters of strides in 3:38. I gave myself a touch over three minutes to stretch out and change into my vest and started the first of three sets of 2x200 + 400. I was to run the 200s in 41 seconds while giving myself 200 meters of recovery afterwards and the 400s in 1:24 followed by 400 meters of recovery.
My sets are as follows:
39.14 (1:10), 41.13 (1:13), 1:23.72 (2:30).
41.46 (1:16), 40.66 (1:19), 1:23.45 (2:42).
41.52 (1:22), 41.41 (1:26), 1:23.86.
I forgot to run a recovery lap after my last 400 but I ran a 1.5 mile cool down in 13:25. I've a bit of tightness in my left Achilles tendon but I'm not used to running this type of practice. I'll stretch it out a bit and monitor the situation. I'm sure it will be fine with some TLC.
Tomorrow consists of an early morning trip to the hospital to have tubes put in Nathan's ears. The kid has ear infections that don't go away and we can't decide if they're starting to affect his hearing or if he's just ignoring us. Hopefully my little man will feel better after he gets his tubes and we can avoid our monthly trips to the pediatrician. I like his pediatrician but I'm getting tired of seeing him as much as much as we've been.
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6 comments:
Winter running in the Midwest is so hard. I have to be honest with you... living down here, I wouldn't even consier running if the wind chill was 18. And you're out running strong speed workouts in it. Consider me impressed.
Thanks. I generally call it quits if their ice or deep snow on the ground. Temperature-wise I generally don't run if the thermometer reads below 10 degrees. If it is above 10 and the wind isn't terrible I'll go out but not run long or do tempos/repeats.
Thanks, but a wind chill of 18 is nothing if you have the right clothes.
I'll probably finish this week close to 25 miles- my best week in two years, I'd guess. However, it was over 70 three days this week, and it will be at least 60 every day but Sunday. Our overnight lows are typically no colder than freezing. It makes it a lot easier to get out on the roads.
If the weather cooperates and I find the time this weekend I'll finish with a little over 30 miles for the week. I'll probably do a 3-4 mile tempo run tomorrow, 10 on Saturday and 4-5 on Sunday. It won't be warmer than 40 any of those days.
I did my first 10 mile run in almost 2 years today. Felt strong. Hope you had a good 10 yourself.
I ran 10 miles of the Bionic Woman's 16 miler as she is training for Boston. We took it easy and stopped for water/jettison jackets 2-3 times. We ran for 1:25 and change. I felt tired. Glad you felt pretty good though. Good job!
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