Closing out February: Week of 2-23 to 3-1

March begins on Sunday, and along with it hopefully we'll see some warmer days.  I don't mind some cold, and some snow, but we're on target to finish February as the coldest month in CT since the started recording weather.  Like, EVER.  Races have even been cancelled because of it, which really sucks for the people who put down good money on hotels, made travel plans, etc...So bring on Spring, dammit!  I'm ready for it.

Monday, 2-23 - 0 Miles.  1 hour karate class, followed by some weights/light stretching.

Tuesday, 2-24 - 0 Miles.

Wednesday, 2-25 - 4 Miles (Treadmill) - Short interval workout. - Daughter got sent home sick, so in between household stuff, I squeezed in a good 4 mile workout on the treadmill, with intervals.  Slow start to the week, and I'm hoping for some bigger and better things for the weekend!

Thursday, 2-26 - 0 Miles.

Friday, 2-27 - 4.6 Miles (Trail/Road) - Lantern Hill run, and afternoon dog jog.  Decided to hit Lantern Hill to see how bad it was.  Quite a bit of snowshoe/xc ski activity on the main trails, so I tried to stay on that for the most part.  Some postholing though, and the last section I ran/walked before I finished up was untouched for at least a month:

But as always, a great time in the woods!

Saturday, 2-28 - 3 Miles (Road) - Downtown Westerly park and roads to close out the month.  Was in town running errands, and squeezed in this run.  All good, until I fully wiped out on an icy patch of sidewalk near the Y, and ultimately cut the run short.  Hit the ground hard, but not enough blood to make a highlight reel...and screw you. February!  You sucked.

Sunday, 3-1 - 7.5 Miles (Beach/Road) - Watch Hill run.  Met up with Jim H., who wanted to run but hadn't since over a month ago.  I suggested Watch Hill, as it was gonna be low-ish tide and we could run the beach.  Great time out to Napatree and back, and we saw another runner approaching on the beach.  Hey, it's WTAC member Ben Moon!  He joined us, and we headed off the beach and down to the lighthouse, then ran Jim back to his car at 4 miles.  Ben and I tacked on an extra 3.5 miles and finished up.  Great way to kick off March!

Piling it on (and more snow!), Week of 2-16 to 2-22

So guess what?  Looks like we're on target here in CT for the coldest February in recorded weather history, at somewhere around a 16 degree average?  What the???  Oh, and then there's the snow.  It just keeps piling up, without any above freezing temps to melt any of it.  Matter of fact, it's snowing as I'm writing this on Tuesday morning.  I'm sure as heck not planning on signing up for any races in the next few weeks!  I've been able to get out for some outdoor runs, and have supplemented them with a couple of treadmill runs, my last resort (although I'm getting less anti-treadmill the last few weeks...).  I also have an appointment Tuesday for my first ever PT session for my left knee, will see how that goes...

Monday, 2-16 - 9 Miles (7 Treadmill/2 Road) - Bone-chilling Presidents' Day, with wind chill factors well below zero.  I opted to get set up in the "sweatbox" exercise room, put on a movie on the iPad, and threw on the wireless headphones.  Easy progression run, and the 7 miles went by faster with the distraction.  As cold as it was outside, the dog thought we were going for a run when I got geared up and looked rather upset.  I changed up (again) after the treadmill run and braved the frigid temps with him, and got 2 snow-covered road miles.  The wind had died down some, so it was still really cold but manageable.

Tuesday, 2-17 - 0 Miles.  Saw a Physical Therapist for the first time - she had me flex my knee this way and that, and gently dug into the tendons to find out where my discomfort was coming from...meniscus it is, with more PT scheduled, along with a prescribed regimen of stretching exercises and foam rolling.  We'll see how it goes!

Wednesday, 2-18 - 7 Miles (Beach/Road) - Watch Hill run with Napatree Point beach run.  I really love this place...

Had the entire beach to myself today - no wind, 30 degrees and perfect :)

Thursday, 2-19 - 2.6 Miles (Trail) - Champlin Glacier Park.  2.6 miles of snow-covered trails.  Cold and breezy day, and I was looking to get into the woods for a few miles.  The main trails were packed down a bit by snowshoe tracks, but a couple of the trails weren't, and it was a tough slog punching through the crusty and deep snow.  Why, you ask?  Because it's awesome in the woods.  Tough to run in?  You bet.  But totally worth it!

Friday, 2-20 - 7 Miles (Treadmill/Road) - 5.5 mile treadmill run, 1.5 mile dog jog.  Flippin' cold out!  Couldn't bring myself to run in minus whatever wind chills today, so I grabbed the iPad, wireless headphones, picked out a movie to zone out on (Frankenstein!) and hit the treadmill.  Steady pace, and ran 400's at race pace (6:30 avg.) for the last two miles, alternating with a 400m jog between each.  Later, the wind had died down some so I took Henry for a run.  Good time but still cold and breezy, but glad we got out!  

Saturday, 2-21 - 2.5 Miles - (Road) - Late afternoon dog jog with Henry.

Sunday, 2-22 - 9+ Miles (Road/Beach) - Watch Hill beaches and roads w/Gazelle, and slushy dog jog w/Henry.  Met up with Jeff in Watch Hill for a beach run.  Sunny skies and 35 degrees was awesome!  This was the day that finally felt like Spring was on its way.  Lots of people getting outside too, another good sign.  Did the out and back Napatree Point run, then took the trail next to Taylor's place down to the oceanside beach and ran that for a bit, before finishing up on uncrowded side streets.  Great run!

Watch Hill harbor

Another Monday, another storm! Week of 2-9 to 2-15

This is the third consecutive Monday that school's been cancelled due to a snowstorm, and although we're set to receive the lower end of the snowfall estimates, we get the added bonus of freezing rain!  Awesome!  Nothing like turning everything into a skating rink, right?  The rest of the week sees temperatures plummet, and the potential for two more snow events toward the end of the week???

I also don't have a race scheduled for at least a month!  There are options, I just don't have anything pencilled in on the calendar...

Monday, 2-9 - 0

Tuesday, 2-10 - 0

Wednesday, 2-11 - 0

Thursday, 2-12 - 8+ Total - 6.2 Miles (Road) - Snowy streets of Misquamicut and Avondale w/Gazelle.  Perfect conditions for a run, 32 degrees, very little wind, and big fat snowflakes falling.  A truly enjoyable run today, on what's set to be the warmest day for at least the next week.  Met up with Jeff, and we cruised around Avondale, and ended up at Misquamicut for a quick beach check.  Tide was high!

                             2 Miles (Road) - Dog jog.  Henry and I were able to maintain a faster pace!  Light snow falling, great run with the boy!

Friday, 2-13 - 4 Miles (TM) - Happy Friday the 13th!  It's friggin' freezing out, so I opted to play around on the treadmill...4 progression miles (with 4x1 minute 6:00 pace runs at the end, with easy recovery), and sweaty as Hell since I was in my house!  My humps!!!

What I think I look like on the treadmill...

Saturday, 2-14 - 2 Miles (Road) - Dog jog with Henry.  I also mailed in (mailed?  people still do that?) my race application for the all-new Chikumbuso 10k race, to be held on 4/25 right up the road from me at the Jonathan Edwards Winery.  This should be a lot of fun, and I plan on running the two miles to the race as a warmup, running the race, and then running back to the house afterward.  The winery is at the top of one of the hills in town, so whichever way the race starts is downhill, with a pretty solid uphill finish...

Sunday, 2-15 - Blizzard!  Once I dig us out (again), I might venture out for something...looks brutal though!!!

Belleville Beatdown Coming! Week of 2-2 to 2-8

I blame myself.  With zero snow up till last week, I'd piped up with "I hope we have some snow for Belleville!"  Well, we got it in spades, and it's shaping up to be an even bigger shitshow than last year's sufferfest, which took me 1:06 to finish, and was described by 81-year old Colburn Graves as "The toughest thing I've ever done."  That's testimony right there.  It was brutal.

Monday, 2-2 - 0 Miles - Yet another storm, and another two rounds of shoveling the driveway.  All set here...

Tuesday, 2-3 - 0 Miles.

Wednesday, 2-4 - 2.8 Miles (Trail/Road) + 3.3 Miles (Road) - Attempt at a trail run in Champlin, and a time-killing progression run before B-Ball practice ended.  Was finally able to make it to karate class this morning!  Great class, we went through all our kata and yakosoku kumite drills, and spent some time doing self-defense.  Good stuff!  I was planning on hitting Watch Hill to run, but on my way there I decided to scope out Champlin Glacier Park.  Footprints on the first trail!  I quickly geared up and put the Yaks on for the first time this year...

100 yards into the woods the green trail branches off to the left and it's my favorite.  I take it and immediately, I'm working.  Hard.  The snow is still pretty deep and has a nice crusty topping to punch through.  I went a mile in it, the snow averaging shin-deep, and bailed onto the road for a bit, then found a tracked-up trail and looped that a couple of times.

Champlin trail?

Crusty!

More crust...

In the afternoon, I got to my daughter's school early and decided on a hilly-ish progression run.  Started at an 8:06, ended at a 6:33 pace.  Felt good and was thinking about trying to loop around on Jeremy Hill road but ran outta time (It's about a 6-mile loop).  3.3 miles was it, but a good run nevertheless...

Thursday, 2-5 - 0 Miles.

Friday, 2-6 - 5 Miles (Road) - Mystic.  COLD!!!  My wife was getting her hair done, so I ran and answered various texts from her about her timeline, which ran late.  Turned into a progression run of sorts, although I was laying off before the race...

Saturday, 2-7 - 6.2 Miles (Trail? Snow? IDK???) - Belleville Pond 10k, NKRI.  One Hell of a race, and a true "Sufferfest" to get through.  My take?  I packed all my gear and left the house, got on I-95 and quickly realized that I forgot.to.put.my.damn.shoes.in.the.car...and turned around to get them, which ate up all my time for a warmup.  I got to Ryan Park with 10-15 minutes to spare, got checked in and chatted with some friends.  Perfect day.  25 degrees, overcast and no wind.  Providence vagabonds Monica and James showed up, ready to run and kicking off their 2015 season...Beth???  Not so much, I called her during my shoe crisis and she growled out something about "I'm not going..."

The race was as I expected:  I went out at an average pace.  I saw George up ahead and decided to catch him and stay with him for a while, which we did.  I finally passed him and tried to reel in runners as I went, but that mile 3 was awful!  I averaged a 14-15 minute mile.  The packed snow after that was like a gift, and I increased the pace, finishing in 1:05.  Official results to follow, but what a great way to spend a Saturday morning in New England!!!  Anyone who hasn't gone to the woods in winter, and walked in the snow, is missing out!  It's so great to have so many runners out there!!!

I'll also offer this:  I noticed that my friend Monica hadn't finished, and James and I went to the finish line to greet her.  A runner named Betsy was coming in, and we cheered her in.  She was awesome!  Gave us high-fives and everything.  She's a breast cancer survivor, and her goal was to finish the race this year...so my hat is off to Betsy, and I'm lucky to have met her!  She also told us that Mo was right behind her, and there she was!  Monica, total badass, crossing the line in a tough race, with us yelling at her to pick it up.  Love it!!!  Great to cheer friends to victory :)

Sunday, 2-8 - 6.2 Miles (Road) - Mystic again?  Had to pick up a prescription in Mystic, so it was to be a chlly and breezy 10k along the water.  I really didn't have a particular time or distance in mind, either, just meandered around until I got to around 4 miles, and decided to get 6.2 total, to finish off the Strava 10k challenge.  I don't really have anything I'm training for, so aside from working on speed, I don't really NEED to get a set number of miles in each day/week.  Is that really such a bad thing?