Today was ROUGH!!! One of my worst runs in months. I like to think that I can generally handle unpleasant conditions. I'll run in single digit temps, snow, rain, ice, etc. I don't love it, but I survive. I guess today I learned the one thing that gets to me though--wind. It was horrible this morning. Weather channel said the wind was blowing @ 28 mph with gusts up to 39 mph. It was coming from the south, so I tried to run east to west and avoid it head-on, but it wasn't happening. As usual with my long runs, I wanted to hit around 6 min/mile, or even 5:50 after the last 2 weeks, but I didn't even come close. I did 1 mile easy, then started my garmin. Course was to the canyon trail, south past old hospital, through Jill's old neighborhood and the motel frontage road. Splits were: - 6:46-Slight wind
- 6:47-Increased wind and uphill
- 7:21-Wind directly to my front, all uphill (at one point, garmin says 9:15 pace) :(
- 7:10-Wind straight on, all uphill
- 7:04-Wind off and on as I go through a neighborhood
- 7:29-Road now flat, but wind seems to pick up
- 7:36-DOWNHILL and I slow down even more. What a joke. Gusts were easily 35+ right about now.
At this point, I've ran 7 miles in 50:10 (7:10 min/mile) and feel trashed. So I decide to turn around and run home:
- 5:41-Uphill the entire mile and it feels like I'm running DOWN an escalator!
- 5:44-Flat road, wind to my back
- 6:16-Wind off and on through neighborhood
- 5:47-Flat, wind off and on
- 6:21-Downhill-ish, but the wind picks up and nearly knocks me over multiple times
- 5:37-Finally flat and wind at my side
- 5:28-Same as above.
So my second 7 splits were all over the place, but my average was 5:51 per mile, so when it's all said and done, I'm okay with that. I was happy that, after 13 miles, I was able to finish with 2 quick miles. Overall though, it was just brutal today. I was frustrated at how slow I was going even though I thought my effort felt as high as ever. Whatever..... I guess that's just the way it goes living in a windy city. It makes me appreciate the runs in 10 mph winds! Red (63)
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