faster with age

     I missed 2 days of running last week including a planned 15 miler yesterday so I decided to get in a run today. I didn't get out until after dark and the temp was 13 deg which was about as warm as it has been day or night the past few days. I was running on snow so I just started out slow and easy. I went 13 miles total. My first few miles I was running around 8:50 pace but as I ran it felt like the same effort but my last miles were around 7:50 pace [which is faster than I usually run on snow]. Overall pace was 8:21.

     8 miles on snow and ice. 8:36 AP.

     10 more miles plugging away on the snow and ice. The temp was at -5 deg. When the roads are icy one of my neighbors [an elderly woman] can't cross the road to get her newspaper and mail. If I notice her paper is still in the box I stop and take it over to her. This morning she got a big kick out of all the ice on my beard and eyelashes and had me come in to look in the mirror.  8:33 AP

     I wanted to do a tempo run today but it's a little hard to find a road that isn't covered in snow. I figured I could go out and run on the highway but I don't enjoy it much with traffic zooming by at 70 mph. I had noticed a gravel road nearby that had strips of dry dirt exposed down most of it from the plow. I guess it doesn't get packed down so much before the plow hits it because it doesn't get much traffic. I ran back and forth on a 2 mile stretch and was able to run on dry gravel for most it. I had to keep switching from side to side to keep hitting the best dry strips. I was probably only running on snow about 15 % of the time. I ran a 2 mile warmup at around 7:30 pace. Then did 8 miles at 6:44 ave pace with a 4 min break at the halfway point. It was a bit tougher than I expected especially the last few miles. It may have had to do with the fact that it was about 15 deg [which actually feels pretty good lately] and running on the gravel is usually a bit slower. Overall pace for 10 miles was 6:53.

     I was able to run up the reservoir road today for the first time since it snowed. Somebody finally drove through the snow in a truck and left some tire tracks to run in. The snow is only about a foot deep right now and there isn't any drifting so they were able to make it through. I love running up there in the winter. The sun was shining and it is so quiet and peaceful. Temps were in single digits but I guess that's better than the negatives. 8 recovery miles at 8:56 AP.

     Took another run up around the reservoir today. The footing in the tire tracks isn't terrible but it stills seems to slow me down by 30 seconds or more per mile. The uphills are quite a bit slower than that and I get down to around 10 min pace. 9 miles @ 8:57 AP

     Went 15 miles and stuck to the plowed roads this time. There is getting to be more strips on the road that are dry. I kept criss crossing the road to catch as many of the dry strips as I could but still ended up with quite a bit of running on snow and ice. Started the run running around 8:40 pace and continued to drop the pace until the last miles were around 7:40 pace. 8:07 overall ave.