faster with age

My back is feeling much better today. A week ago on sunday I couldn't even sit through my meetings and had to go home early. Walking was very slow and bent over. I tried a little test last night and ran 200 meters. I had a slight pain but not bad. I went out to try it again tonight and it felt good enough I just kept going for a mile. I would have gone farther but I had a meeting to go to.

     It was time to try running again so I went out this morning in a blizzard and 5 inches of new unplowed snow and started running. My back had a little sorness so I only went 2 miles. It seems to be a bit tight in the mornings. I enjoy running in the snow but I enjoy it more when I'm not running into a stiff headwind with the snow blowing into my eyes making them hard to keep open. I guess I should take some ski goggles.

     PM at noon I went out and tried it again. It wasn't snowing as hard but was still windy. My back felt better and some of the road had been plowed. I went 5 miles at 9:20 pace. My heartrate was about where it normally is at 7:45 pace. Probably a combination of the poor footing and the fact I havn't run in 1 1/2 weeks. It felt good to be out running again.

     Went for a late AM mt. bike ride. First ride on snow this year. It was a good temp for a winter ride. It wasn't very cold but far enough below freezing to keep the snow firm. I went 18 miles but since snow riding is slower with the same effort I'm counting 1 mile for every 12 minutes.

     PM ran 3 miles at 9:20 pace. My back felt pretty good. The footing made the running slow again.

     It was 2 degrees when I went out the door this morning. Had a good ice beard going. I Ran 8 miles on snow and ice. I think that's probably how it will be for the rest of the winter. The first 3 1/2 miles I ran 8:49 pace. The next 4 1/2  I averaged 8:01 but that pace felt faster. That snow and ice really seem to slow me down. My back felt pretty good with a small amount of soreness. I'm amazed I feel this much better this soon. It was 2 weeks ago tomorrow that my back went out on me and I couldn't even walk without a lot of pain for the first 4 days.

     I feel like I've really been slacking lately on my running. I didn't run at all on Christmas day because we had a blizzard all day and it seemed easier to just take it off. Friday I spent the day digging out from the Christmas storm. We have a lane that is nearly 1/2 mile long and it was burried under 3 foot drifts. It normally doesn't take long in the plow truck but it was too deep for that and 1 scoop at a time on the tractor takes a while. By the time I got out we had to leave and I didn't get a chance to run after that. By the time I got a chance again it was just getting dark Sat. night with blowing snow again. After skipping the last 2 days I decided I better get out there. It wasn't too bad other than the footing on unplowed snow sure slows you down. The snow keeps it a little brighter to see after dark. I went 7 miles at about 9:15 pace.