More Friggin' Cold

Another cold day.  Sometimes there just isn't anything to say about your run, except it sucks running in the cold.  At least it's not as bad as the conditions that Rocky faced while training for his fight against Drago.  Enjoy.




Today's mileage - 5.13  /  169.07 total for year

May The Force Be With You... and also traffic lights.

Sometimes I wish I had powers of the mind.  Not so much like the Jedi Masters from "Star Wars", but power to control things.  Like traffic lights.  Wouldn't it be great to never have a red light again?  Oh the joy!

The same rings true while running and today's run was a perfect example.  Seven miles, and I hit seven red lights.  At each of these lights, there was too much traffic to "sneak" across.  No, I had to wait. 10, 20, 30 seconds at each.  When you have to stop this much, you just can't seem to get into a good rhythm.  Even without the pace that I was looking for, I still accomplished my run.

Now if I can just figure out how to control those darn lights.


Today's totals -  7.43 miles  /  163.94 total for year.

Life'e Rewards

Some days, even though running is a part of it, it's not the most important part.  Today was one of those days.

One of my major life goals was achieved today, when I was promoted at work.  This is an accomplishment that I had worked 31 years for, and today was the culmination of all that effort.  When you have an event like this, no matter how much you enjoy running, it just takes a back seat.  But today was a training day, and out the door I went.

Another cold day, but after all the good weather that we had, the roads are in much better shape for running.  The ice has receded to the point that we can see the edge of the road, and whatever puddles that there were have evaporated to leave a dry running surface.  This is the shortest scheduled day this week, so it made for a nice easy run (with a tempo segment in the middle).  After this weekend's race, my legs felt heavy for the entire run.  Hopefully the kinks will work themselves out before next Monday's long run.


Today's total -  4.07 miles  /  156.51 total for year.

40th Annual Jones Group Realtors 10 Miler

Race day.  Second race of the year, but while I'm training for Boston I want to be conservative with my races.  Today was a 10 mile race, and I set my goal pace to 9:30-9:45.  This course/race has been a standard for as long as I can remember, but this year they made a slight change to the start & finish lines.  With these changes, they also adjusted the first and last mile of the course.  As with any race changes, there are bound to be a few glitches, and the main one I saw was a bottleneck at about 1/2 mile, as we took a turn onto a street that was impeded by a large puddle on the left, and ice that stretched across the road.  Had they not changed the course, we wouldn't have turned at this road.

On the up side, I did like that new finish location.  In the past you would finish about 1/2 mile away from the start (and the parking area).  Then you would have to walk back to your car across sidewalks and fields that were sometimes water & mud covered.  Now the finish was about 10 yards away from the parking lot.  Easy access to the cars!!

As the race started, I knew that I would go out too fast, so I planned on it.  Run what felt comfortable until the two mile mark, and then THE HILL begins.  THE HILL is about a mile long, and climbs about 250 feet.  Once you hit the top of the hill you have a quarter mile, and you enter Shutesbury, MA.  For some reason, Shutesbury has chosen not to pave this road, and the next mile and a half is on dirt roads (some spots covered in ice).  This year, the conditions were just about perfect... not too much ice, and the road was just soft enough to give you a little cushioning.  It actually felt nice running in the "mud".  As you pass the six mile mark, you're pretty much home free, with just a couple of small hills left on the course.

As well as watching my pace, I was also watching my heart rate.  Everything went as planned, and when I finished, I had a time of 1:35:30 (9:33/mile).  Exactly what I had wanted.

Once I finished, I proceeded to do a two mile cool down.  Normally I'd be done with the 10, but my training plan called for 12 miles today.


Today's total  -  12.01 miles  /  152.44 for the year.

Spring Fever

Today officially did it... I have spring fever.  This year, there was no "January thaw", so this week's warm-up has been well worth it.  Now I know that it'll get colder later this week, but at least I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A temperature of 43, sunny, and only a little bit of wind.  What a great day for a run.  Shorts, no gloves, no winter hat... I felt free.  The only negative was the puddles created by the melting, and that water is COLD!

This may not be the end of the cold weather, but I'll take it.


Today's mileage - 4.12 miles  /  140.43 total for year.

What a difference a day makes...

Yesterday, all I could do was complain about the unexpected snow.  Today, a mere 24 hour later, I was almost giddy about the "spring like" weather.  46 degrees, sunny, and mild winds... WOW!  February 20th and I was running in shorts!  As a matter of fact, I think I might have actually overdressed.

Today's run was a nice easy 5 miler and I almost wish that the schedule called for a longer run.  This was one of the best running weather days in a long time.

That's the great thing about New England.  For the most part... If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes ... It'll change.


Today's total - 5.09 miles  /  136.31 total for year.

Just One Of Those Days

Did you ever have one of those days where everything pisses you off?  That was my day today.  Everything that happened seemed to rub me the wrong way.

Thank God for running!  This is my way to relieve stress, and I needed it today.  The stress relief was only temporary, because it was one of those days.  Due to other people not knowing their schedule, I had to rearrange mine to fit in my running at an earlier time.  Later I found that I really didn't need to do this, because the person was off by a day on their appointment.  AAARRRGGHH!!!

The one good thing about running earlier was that I beat the "unpredicted" snow.  Just another thing to add to my list today.  The forecast called for 39 degrees and rain, not 4-5 inches of snow.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.


Today's total  -  6.06 miles  /  131.22 miles total for the year.

Lessons learned

When I woke up this morning, I felt like crap.  Running was the furthest thing from my mind, so after giving my body/head a chance to feel better (and they didn't), I texted my training partner and opted out of our 9:00 workout.

About 12:30 I was feeling better, and also feeling a little guilt.  I was supposed to run a 10 miler.  That's the training plan.  So, I made the decision to get out and run.  If I felt bad, I could always cut it short (sure I could).

A quick check of the weather... 28 degrees with 15 mph winds...  brrr.

Out the door I went.  I chose an out & back course to run.  There's a golf course about 5 miles from the house, I'll just run there and back.  Great idea, but I didn't totally think this out.

First lesson... Golf courses aren't open when there's snow on the ground.  Sure, the road was plowed by the maintenance crew, but that was probably on Friday.  Saturday we got another 1 to 2 inches of the white stuff, and last night the wind kicked up.  As soon as I got to the main driveway, I was running on a snow-drift covered road.  A little bit tough running in the snow, and in some spots there was ice underneath.  I took it slower and reached the clubhouse.  5 miles down, and 5 more to go.

Now the second lesson... When it's windy out, pay attention to the wind direction.  All the time I was running I kept thinking how warm it was.  Once I turned at the clubhouse I realized that this was because I had been running with the wind at my back.  Great... now I have 5 miles to go with it in my face.  And, I had worked up a good sweat on the first five miles.  By the time I got home, my face was red from the wind, and my body was cold from the sweat being cooled off by the wind.

It took me the rest of the afternoon to get myself back to feeling normal.


Today... 10.01 miles  /  125.16 total for the year.

More snow... yuck!

Another snowy day.  At least this one's not supposed to leave a lot.

Today's run was a workout.  Four miles, and after the storm on Thursday, the roads/sidewalks were terrible. Many of the places that were shoveled, still had about two inches of soft snow, and running on this is the equivalent of running on beach sand.  Of course had it been at the beach, I would have enjoyed it more.

Because it was snowing during the run, it became almost impossible to see through my glasses.  First was the snow melting as it hit the glasses, and leaving water drops, and then they decided to fog up.  Of course both sides don't fog evenly, only one side at a time.  Having one lens of your glasses with fog really does a job on your depth perception.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, but I'm not counting on the weather to cooperate.


Today's mileage -  4.11 /  115.15 total for this year.

Snow Day

This morning, the snow started before I got up.  Our plan was to get in a run this morning before the heaviest of the snow started to fall.  So, I was at work a half hour earlier to get out on the roads.  Luckily we have a place to run with limited traffic, so that wasn't a worry at all.

The snow was falling, but wasn't that heavy.  About an inch of two was on the ground, and it was the kind of snow that's perfect for running (if there is such a thing).  Each step, and you could feel the snow compact and "crunch" under your foot.  When there's no traffic, you can almost hear the snow as it hits the ground.

The only negatives this morning, were the temp and the wind.  It was only 18 degrees, and with the 8 mph wind it was a wind chill of 7 degrees.  Brrrrr.  Worse than the wind chill, was the feel of the snow hitting my face, it felt like tiny needles as the snow came in contact with my face.  Thank goodness I wasn't running into the wind for the whole run.

Of course the fun part was the reaction of my co-workers once I finished.  They all thought I was crazy, but I guess today I confirmed it.


Today's mileage -  5.00  /  Total for year  -  111.09

Calm before the storm

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for our area all of tomorrow, and Friday morning until 7:00 AM.  Predictions have been anything from 6 inches up to 16 inches, so tomorrow's workout might be interesting if I don't beat the snow.  Because of this (and my scheduled workouts) I took advantage of the calm before the storm.

Today's weather, although a little below normal on the temperature, was actually a nice day to run.  The wind was at a minimum, which is a welcome change from the way it has been for the last couple of days.  The roads weren't in bad shape either.  Most of where we ran was down to the pavement, and without the temperature getting too high, there weren't a lot of puddles or slush.

A 5.5 mile "easy run" is what the training plan called for, so easy is what we tried to run.  I didn't feel like I was pushing it, but the first mile was a 9:23.  About 20-35 seconds faster than I wanted.  Once I'm in motion, I find it hard to forcibly slow myself down, so I just went with it.  When it was all said and done, I averaged a 9:35 pace (still 10-15 seconds per mile faster).  Some days you just feel good.


Today's mileage - 5.61  /  106.04 miles total for year.

First 100... done

Today's run was a bit of a challenge.  21 degrees with a 12 mph wind (wind chill of 9), and I needed to do a tempo run.  A tempo run is defined as a "comfortable hard" pace.  Basically you need to push at about an 80 percent effort.  These runs can be tough in good weather, and they're brutal in the cold.

Based upon the training paces that I have established,  I need to run a pace between 9:02 and 9:16 for a tempo run.  It's recommended to have an "easy" first and last mile while pushing the middle portion.   Today it was 4 miles, so the middle two would be at tempo pace.

The first mile was comfortable at a 9:19, then we needed to pick it up.  The rest of the miles were 9:05, 9:00, and 9:02... right on target.  The funny thing is that we felt like we had slowed down during the last mile.  I guess when the wind is at your back it'll give you that illusion.  One of my best workouts, both on intensity and feeling.

Today mileage - 4.02  

100.43 total for year  -  

FIRST 100 DONE!!!

Hills... The breakfast of champions.

No offense to Wheaties, but cereal doesn't make champions... hard work does.

Today's workout called for 7.5 miles, and the plan threw in the option to "mix it up" with a little hill workout.  So, with the Holyoke St. Patrick's Day Road Race a little over a month away, we decided to take on the course.  Being that the race is only 6.2 miles, I suggested that we do the "Old" course.  For anyone that was running back in the 80's, Holyoke was unique... it was the only course in the area that was 7.5 miles.  Their choice to shorten the course was a controversial one, but at the time 10K was the "popular" race distance.  To shorten the course, they eliminated two substantial hills on the campus of Holyoke Community College.  Now this made the course easier, but it was still uphill for most of the first 3 miles.

We parked the cars at about mile marker 1, and began from there.  This made the first two miles uphill.  Entering the college campus, we proceed to do a lap (down, up, down, up), and rejoined the current course.  After about 1/2 mile of somewhat level terrain, we now hit the biggest downhill of the course.  It's so hard to hold back on a down hill, and that made mile five the fastest of all my splits today.  The final two and a half miles are pretty flat, and the only thing that we had to worry about were "idiot drivers".  One that we watched "pause" for a red light after flying past us, and another that cut over two lanes just to get into McDonald's.  I guess it was a last minute decision to get that Egg McMuffin.

All-in-all it was a great run.  My longest since the Disney Marathon, but they're going to get longer almost every weekend from here until Boston.


Today's mileage - 7.60  /  96.41 total for year.

Idiot drivers...

Why is it that people just don't pay attention when driving?  Today was another one of those runs where everything felt good, and the run was really enjoyable.  That was until about 200 feet before I finished.

After the snow we had this past week, not all the sidewalks are free of ice or packed snow.  Most of my run I tried to keep in the road (in the breakdown lane), but on the final stretch there is no breakdown lane.  When this happens, I move onto the sidewalk (if possible).  About 1/4 mile form home, I got on the sidewalk for the final portion, and that's when it happened.  Another idiot driver.

The car was pulling out of the driveway for the church next door, and just wasn't paying attention.  First off, maybe she should have looked both ways to see if anyone was on the sidewalk.  Secondly, she should have stopped short of the sidewalk.  But no, she never looked and stopped right on the sidewalk.  Great, now I had 10 feet to stop on a slippery walk before running into her car.

Luckily I kept my balance, and didn't fall.  I had a few choice words for her, but I'm sure she didn't hear me, because she still never looked.  Next time, I think I'll bang on the roof so I can be sure that they know I'm there.  IDIOTS!


Today's total  -  4.08 miles /  88.81 total for year.

Just another day

Today was just another day.  Nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary.  You could say it was a boring day... and I enjoyed that.  Sometimes you want one of those days where life doesn't hand you any extra surprises.

This afternoon's run also wasn't very special.  No wild weather, no frigid temperature, no gale force winds.  Just a nice 4.01 miles at an average pace of 9:46/mile.

Boring days can be a nice change of pace.


Today's mileage - 4.01  /  84.73 total for year.

Does snow removal count?

Today was a scheduled "cross training" day.  My training plan called for a core strength workout, followed by 30 minutes of cardio (other than running).

Well, as many of you know, we got hammered with about 10-12 inches of snow in Western Mass.  So, my training had to be preempted by snow removal.  This included shoveling and snow blowing.  Shoveling took the place of my strength workout, and the snow blowing became my cardio workout for the day.

The good news is, only 41 days left until spring/

Easy ain't always easy.

Today's run was supposed to be an easy three. Unfortunately, I had a dentist appointment so I couldn't run at my usual time.  Best I could do was 6:00 this evening.  By the time I got out the door, the temp had dropped below freezing, and all the puddles that had formed from the melting today were starting to turn to ice.  Our nice smooth driveway felt like the local hockey rink.

Using all the utmost caution, I ventured out into the neighborhood.  Not wanting to deal with a lot of cars, I opted for as many side streets as I could.  I'm glad this was supposed to be an easy run, because speed was not happening.  My biggest concern was to just keep myself upright. After about 1.5 miles, I met back with the main road, and figured it'll be easier to avoid traffic than avoiding ice on the side streets.

Thankfully tomorrow is a non-running day, because we're expecting 8-12 inches of snow.  Oh the joys of New England.


Today's mileage - 3.05  /  80.72 total for year.

Lazy day... not!

Yesterday, I missed doing an update due to watching the Superbowl.

Today was a scheduled "rest day", after this week's "long run".  After working all day yesterday, I managed to get in a 6 mile run prior to watching the game.  The weather was great (43 degrees), and the run felt good.  I probably could have run today, but my training plan called for a rest day.

Now, what I planned for today was "being lazy", but unfortunately that wasn't meant to be.  First off, we had our main sewer line get clogged, and back-up.  Luckily it was just dirty water from the washing machine, but still.  Now instead of lounging around the house, I needed to go to the laundromat.  To top thing off, it was snowing.  Of course it wasn't a ton of snow, so it really didn't call for the snow blower.  Yeah... I get to shovel.  Needless to say, it wasn't a the lazy day that I wanted.

Maybe next week.



Yesterday's total mileage 6.03  /  77.67 total for year