ORRRC Week 5: Ice Ice Baby

Saturday morning's ice storm

Hola! I'm back for the Weekly Review linkup with Hoho Runs and MissSippiPiddlin. I'm training for about a dozen races, but concentrating on a half on April 9. You can see my schedule here. 

Week of December 12-18
Monday: 3 miles walk to work
Tuesday: 3 miles + walk to work
Wednesday: 3 miles + walk to work
Thursday: rest
Friday: rest       
Saturday: 8 miles    
Sunday:  5.1 miles      

Total (running) miles: 22.1 miles
Elevation gain: 259 ft
2016 total: 949.1 miles

Alex and I stayed home from work Monday while he recovered a from a week-long sickness. I worked in the morning (very productive!), then ran at lunch. While I enjoyed running during the day, I felt pretty sluggish. Afterwards I made a hearty dinner and we watched Sons of Anarchy.

As seen on Tuesday's run

On Tuesday, I left work a bit early to run in the fresh snow. We got 2-4 inches during the day. It didn't coat the streets and sidewalks, but I had a great time running while fat flakes of snow fell. I wanted to do a #5Weeks2TTC workout, but the conditions weren't ideal for speedwork. After I cleaned up, we went out for Taco Tuesday and some Christmas shopping, then finished Sons of Anarchy season 6 (sob).

The snow covered track

Alex drove me to the local track to do my #5Weeks2TTC 12 x 200 on Wednesday. The track was covered in snow – which usually isn't bad – but there was a layer of ice slush on top. I made it one lap and called it quits. I couldn't speed up to goal pace and I could barely stay upright, so I decided to run home from the track. I ran in the street when I could because most of the sidewalks weren't cleared. I only slipped a few times and my speed was actually pretty good, considering I was struggling to keep my balance: 8:32, 8:21, 8:12. Almost speedwork!

The warmest part of Thursday.

Wednesday was the first time this season where weather truly prevented me from the kind of run I wanted. On Thursday, temperatures continued to drop, landing at 4º. During my streak last year I went out in negative temps, but this time I skipped because of the lingering ice. I can handle cold, but it's not worth risking injury falling on ice! Friday was more of the same.... Oh well, at least we had a mini holiday party at work and Alex and I went out for a nice dinner!

Saturday: Foggy trail around mile 1.5.

Saturday should have been my first group run of the new season, but it was canceled around 5am (via the new text message alert system. Very cool!). The ice was terrible. I went on my porch to take photos and slid off the porch into our flower bed (I stayed upright). The afternoon forecast predicted 50º with rain, but it never went over 40. I got into my running clothes and gave myself a pep talk to run... "Just go 2 miles." Finally, around 2:30pm Alex stretched on my Yaktrax for me and I went outside. It was spitting rain the entire time. The path near my house leads to a 1+ mile loop. I did the loop three times (groan) and made my way back. It poured rain a few times and it was cold, but not unbearable. The Yaktrax kept me upright and I finished my scheduled 8 miler. Whew!

Sunday Funday

Sunday was cold and I was lazy, so after a leisurely breakfast and an afternoon nap (whoops), I got out around 4pm for a cold-ish 5 miler. It was 25º but the ice and snow from the day before was gone, which made for an easier run. It didn't feel that cold either - after days of single digits. Nice end to the training week!

Have you watched Sons of Anarchy? (We're 1/3 through season 7)  
Do you have a treadmill?
Do you use Yaktrax?