May the Mass x Acceleration be with you

12 mile progression run in 1:26:40 (7:14/mile)

Ok, time to get serious here. Time to start putting in some serioud mileage. Marathon is only 3 1/2 months away. It may be cold. It may be snowing. But no more time to sluff.

Today's run felt good. Last week being short and easy helped a lot. It's nice to run without pain for once. The progression was pretty easy, never felt like I was running really hard. I gave myself 2 miles of warmp and a mile of cool down, so 9 miles of progression running. The plan was to start out around 7:30/mile and drop 5-10 seconds per mile. It worked out pretty well in spite of some hills and a headwind in the second half.

Splits: 8:13 - 7:47 || 7:28 - 7:16.5 - 7:10 - 7:02 - 6:53 - 6:49 - 6:46 - 6:35 - 6:33 || 8:06.

AM
Easy 3.04 in 24:51

Nothing like starting off the day with a run in the snow and slush. Too bad it is a little warm, at around 35, so it is a very wet, slushy snow on the ground. Managed to keep the feet relatively dry, though.

Noon
6 miles in the slushy snow in 48:04 (8:01/mile)

It was pretty sloppy out there, and for some reason all of the traffic was going the wrong way.

Splits: 8:07 - 7:58 - 8:01 - 8:08 - 8:02 - 7:48

AM

Easy 3 in the snow in 25:16 (8:25/mile)

Lots of snow (for here), about 6 inches and still falling. It didn't matter which direction I went the snow was hitting my face. I will have to find something to protect my eyes for my noon run if it is still snowing like this. My face is still frozen.

Splits: 8:52 - 8:20 - 8:04.5

 Noon

7.06 miles in the snow in 57:09 (8:05/mile)

Conditions are pretty challenging today. Only one road had been plowed. The park I ran through had at least a foot of snow and I got to blaze a new trail through it. Traffic was fairly light, but seems like there were always cars in the way at the wrongest times. Overall things went pretty well, but just before I got off the last road a truck came towards me and I had to jump off into the piled snow on the side. Unfortunately the truck was close to the edge of the road and sprayed me with slush. Yuck. With less than half a mile to go all of a sudden my legs were soaked.

Splits: 8:36 - 8:05 - 8:05 - 7:54 - 7:56 - 7:57 - 8:02

AM:

Easy 3 in 28:15 (9:06/mile)

I think this is the slowest I've ever run 3 miles in my life. At least since grade school. No worries, though. The conditions were crummy - snow, slush, water, ice. The snow was that kind that is a few inches deep and has a layer of ice across the top of it, so when you step on it your foot crashes through it and then you have to lift the foot back up and out. Hopefully it will be better in the afternoon.

Splits: 10:12 - 8:58 - 9:06

Noon:

So far conditions are better than this morning. This might be because I stayed on more main roads that were pretty clear of snow and slush. It's not snowing anymore. Instead we have freezing rain. The nice thing about freezing rain is that it doesn't really make your clothes very wet. The bad thing is that it hurts when it pelts your ears, or your nose, or your cheeks. Those who've seen me run probably know that I run with my mouth open. Periodically I would get little bits of ice in my mouth.

By midway into the workout conditions were definitely getting worse. The ground was turning whiter, even on the busier streets, and it was getting slipperier.

I'm going to file this workout away for when I need mental toughness in the late stages of the marathon.

2.33 mile warmup to the track in 19:03 (8:11/mile)

4x1 mile @ moderate pace with 1/4 mile recovery  jogs between. I did two loops around PLU loop as the roads were fairly clear and not much traffic. The splits weren't as fast as I'd want if it were dry out. But, given the conditions, and I only wanted a moderate workout anyway, this was pretty good. I probably would've been looking for around 6:10 or so if it had been dry.

6:38.3
6:48.1
6:26.3
6:40.1

Easy 2.33 mile cool down in 19:10 (8:15/mile)

AM:

Easy 3 in 25:22 (8:24/mile).

Conditions are improving a lot. All of the busier roads are pretty good for running now, although the shoulders and walkways are still buried so there's no place to go if cars are coming from both directions.

Splits: 8:57 - 7:53 - 8:22

Noon:

6.25 miles in 50:07 (8:01/mile)

Ick. The rain has started to come down pretty hard and mix with the snow, so it is a big sloshy mess out there! Still cold, too, at 34 degrees. I was soaked by the end. Kinda fun, though.

It was a little spooky running down tree-lined roads with big chunks of ice crashing down all around me from 40 feet up.

Splits: 8:28 - 8:00 - 7:49 - 8:00 - 7:51 - 7:56

15.2 miles in 1:55:18 (7:35/mile)

I felt surprisingly good today. Weather wasn't as bad as predicted. I did get rained on a bit, but wasn't soaked by it. The 30 mph winds never materialized, just a couple gusts. Legs felt good. The roads have improved a lot and most of the time there is a thin shoulder now. Temp was 40 degrees. Lots of water and slush on the sides of roads and on corners.

On the way back I felt good enough at 12.5 to add an extra loop in Pleasant Valley, which adds about 1.2 miles. Finally getting my weekly mileage up. Next week should be mid-70s and I nned to get 17 or 18 in for the long run.

Splits: 8:23 - 7:38 - 7:38 - 7:29 - 7:32 - 7:30 - 7:25 - 7:23 - 7:12 - 7:37 - 7:28 - 7:37 - 7;38 - 7:46 - 7:37 - (7:15 pace)