Tuesday: 0 (should have been 3 miles)
Wednesday: 0 (should have been 4 miles)
Thursday: 5 (should have been 3 miles)
Friday: 5 (scheduled free day)
Saturday: sledded instead (should have been 3 miles)
Sunday: 10 miles!
A winter's worth of snow in 36 hours
The blizzard that dropped 3-4 feet of snow on the state this week presented some big problems for work and for running. I was planning for a huge project at work that was do be done on Wednesday and the coming storm threw a lot of doubt into the planning. So instead of preparing for one big project, I planned for that and one big contingency plan. And in the process of this planning, Tuesday evaporated before my eyes and sent me home at 9 p.m. exhausted, and knowing full well that Wednesday would not be pretty. Thus on Tuesday, I did not run.
Wednesday's snow sent the state into instant hibernation. Schools closed, the government closed, and the plows and police couldn't keep up with the downfall. And this is in a state where people know how to handle winter. So when I was finished with work (successfully, thank you) at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, I was released with my other colleagues into the snowy abyss. I had fully intended to run extra miles to make up for Tuesday's goose egg, but you know what else closed down for the storm? The gym. Thus on Wednesday also, I did not run.
Make-up time
I hit the gym at 9 p.m. after work and ran 5 miles, though the schedule called for 3. My plan is to run 5 today (check) and 5 tomorrow (would have been a day off) and that will add up to the miles I was supposed to have run before Saturday. I took a stretch break at 3 miles tonight and finished the 5 feeling pretty good. If I hadn't cranked up the speed on the treadmill just to get it over with, I think I could have run a bit farther.
Friday evening I was feeling sluggish but also resigned to the imperative that I was going to run and there's no reason to fight it. I wasn't sure about running 5 miles back-to-back just a few days before a 10-mile run, so I ran only the first 2.5 miles and took a break to stretch and then I finished the remaining 2.5 with a run-walk. This seemed a reasonable approach and as I write this on Saturday morning, my somewhat sore legs are validating that decision.
Doesn't cross-training count?
Saturday was scheduled for a 3-mile run, which to me now seems like an incidental, throw-away maintenance run. You have to do it, but it's that big of deal to get it done. But I was feeling sore and tired from Thursday's and Friday's 5-mile runs (not enough stretching, clearly) and decided to walk today's 3 miles. But as errands ate up the day and day became evening I found my rationalizing and drawing on the advice of my ultra-marathoner friend: there's nothing wrong with giving your body a break with a little cross-training. And so in lieu of 3 miles, I went sledding. And it was awesome.
For 1 1/2 hours we sailed down the bumpy and fairly steep hillside of a golf course, then trudged through deep snow back to the top. If you've never sledded, let me assure you this is an activity that requires cardiovascular endurance to get back up the hill, strength to hold on tight on the way down, and little gumption to set out downhill in the first place. It was a fairly cloudy night in a rural area so we couldn't actually see the hill we were about to sled down, we knew only that we were at the top. An occasional passing car illuminated the slope with all it bumps, moguls and steep drops on the left side. Several crashes, but no injuries to report - just lots of fun.
Sunday: 10 slow, cold miles
I mapped a route that would pass by my gym several times, giving me a chance to warm up, adjust layers and give out the outdoors for the treadmill at several different points in the run. And I took advantage of that planning. I ran a 1-mile loop three times, then struck out on the road for a 2.6 mile loop. From there I had a 4.4-mile loop planned, but the sidewalks were buried in snow and the road was barely wide enough for the cars. So I repeated the 1-mile loop twice and finished up on the treadmill.
So that's the good news: I got in 10 miles. I stopped twice - once at mile 1 to shed a layer of fleece at my car; once at 5.6 to use the bathroom, warm up and stretch; once again at mile 7.6 to shed layers and hit the treadmill. By this point my knees were sore and once I warmed up a bit I realized my back was sore too. Getting on the treadmill was awkward and painful - it took a good mile to loosen up from the cold and to run with a normal gait.
Afterward I had snack as was recommended (apparently you have about 1/2 hour to refuel after a long run or your body starts to breakdown whatever it already has going for it) and then sat in the hot tub to stretch and recuperate. I'm not sure if it was the run, the hardboiled egg and slices of turkey, or the heat of the hot tub (clearly, all three weren't a great combination) but I felt totally nauseous and sore and miserable for awhile there.
Now at home I'm Googling day spas that might have openings for hour-long massages tomorrow. My knees are sorest, but my back is a close second. I hope stretching will solve this.
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