In looking at the picture of that snowblower, you have to wonder why no-one's come up with a robot that would run the thing. Start it up, take it outside in the cold and clean off your driveway. Is that too much to ask?
6 miles of classic skiing today. Thank goodness for the groomer and lots of snowmobile traffic, without them, all the new snow would have kept me house bound.
adkkev... snowshoeing is another great workout, WTG!
Ray... you're living a sheltered life my friend, but in a good way, I wish I could say I'd never seen a snowblower myself... lol I wonder if a deep tissue massage would help your calf muscle, it's been "testy" for a while now. Hopefully today's race went well.
Yeah Fletch, you're in good shape going into next week's 5K. We all have our ways for getting ready for a race like a 5K, I like to take the day 2 days before the race off and do something short and easy the day before. Be sure you warm up good before the race starts, that's pretty important.
Chantilly... rock solid as usual.
justrundan
Rich- you are really making good use of that groomed trail.
Chantilly- Interesting so many people know of the Dells; we live 10 miles south of there, and DW teaches in their school district!
adkkev- 15"!! We've had the cold but our biggest snow was about 5-6 inches. We've gotten frequent 2-3" snows, and almost all have been light and fluffy due to the cold.
Deb- sure hope you are running and not snowshoeing in March, but you never know around here! The Dells is a great place for family gatherings. So many options.
Ray-hope the calf held up today!
9.5 miles yesterday on the riverwalk, last mile mostly walk to cool down. The few hills I encountered were difficult due to being so slippery with snow; it will be nice to run on pavement in a few weeks!??! DW & I had a nice Valentine dinner last night, then went snow shoeing about 2.5 miles at Devil's Lake this morning.
Dan
rmcj001 hope the leg didn't act up during your race
NH Runner We have some plowed trails in town as part of the park system, but very few people ski on the paths, mainly runners use them. Not as scenic as your trail, though.
Fletch_NC Hope the weather co-operates for your race! Don't need icy conditions.
justrundan I think most people on the prairies know Devil's Lake for the casino and the Dells as a touristy spot. Nice workouts.
adkkev that's a lot of snow you got!
work/rest day yesterday
4 miles run, then stationary bike 10 minutes, run 1/2 mile, bike 10 min. run 1/2 mile. Walked 1 mile. Then went home to shovel more snow.(mainly just drifts due to high winds)
"dancing on the path and singing, now you got away,
you can reach the goals you set from now on, every day"
Sonata Arctica
Fletch
adkkev - Nice workout on the snowshoes. 15 inches - that's a LOT of snow!
Rich - I like the robot idea. 6 miles XC - nice! And speaking of XC...DW and I were having dinner with DD1 and her fiancee in a little pub Saturday afternoon when they showed the Women's 4x5 relay at the Olympics. Everyone in the bar was up on their feet, cheering for the Swedish girl skiing that last leg. It was an incredible finish to that race!
Dan - Sounds like a nice Valentine's weekend with DW. And a good workout to boot - 9.5 miles, and on the snow. WTG! Speaking of the Dells...I met a guy in a restaurant here a few weeks ago who mentioned the Dells. He was here playing golf, and talked about a trip he and his buddies took to the Dells for golf a year or so ago. I think he said they played a course at Chula Vista Resort, and mentioned eating at Kaminski's Chop House while they were there.
Chantilly - Another consistent workout for you...and followed it up with some upper body work with the shoveling. Nice! Re: race...we should be in the clear, ice-wise. We have quite a bit of snow still piled up beside the roads, but most of it is expected to be gone this week. Highs predicted in the 60's and 70's this week. Biggest concern for the race is a muddy trail...forecast now is for rain Friday and Saturday.
Took a little trip Saturday to visit DD1 and her fiancee, and to support our 12 yo nephew in his swim meet. Was able to get out yesterday, Sunday, for an easy 5 mile run.
Hope everybody has a nice, warm, safe week.
Here's a pic of DW walking the dogs in the heaviest of our little snow storm last week.
Crazy Diamond
Ray-Hope the race went well and the calf didn't give you any problems. Just picked up a big roll($6) of KT tape at TJ Max, of all places.
Fletch-Cute pic of DW and your pups! The womens xc relay was so exciting! The xc events have been excellent to watch. Hope the trail dries up and the rain hold off!
adkkev-Sorry about the 15" of snow, but a nice base for your snow shoe trek.
Rich-Robot snow blower sounds like an excellent idea. Get to work on a proto-type over the summer!
Dan-Great job on the 9.5 miles w/ slippery hills. Nice to read so many in our group making the most of all the snow with xc skiing and snowshoeing!
Chantilly-Another super workout for you, including the upper-body snow shoveling. Personally, I'm looking forward to swap out the snow shovel for my garden spade soon!
Friday, 2 miles on the bike path after work. Saturday, rest. Sunday, 10k race #5 of the winter series with DS1. Temps around 16 degrees, NW wind @ 8-10 mph, but sunny. About 2" of fresh snow had fallen overnight. The flat course featured a bit of everything - loose snow on top of packed snow, ice, slushy puddles and clear pavement. The snow packed area was about 3/4 mile and we covered it 4 X's on the double loop route. Hard to get traction and rough on the calves. I'll have to continue my quest for 10k in under 60 minutes. Missed it by 30 seconds, but took 20 seconds off my time from the race 2 weeks ago. One more race remains in the series. DS1 had a good 5k race as usual. Followed up with a 2 mile recovery run, and then to a local cafe for brunch. Florentine Eggs Benedict - yum! Our turn for snow and wind today.
Run strong friends!
Quo Vadis?
gito57 Congratulations to you and your daughter in those tough conditions! Nice treat afterwards….Yum
Fletch_NC I like your photo. You do have quite a bit of snow there for NC. Dogs don't look like they are minding it much..
5 miles with son. My friend was there. She said she won't be running any marathons this year. But said she was feeling better.
Sunday... 6 more miles of classic skiing. Crossing one of the bridges on the railtrail, I looked down at the river and saw the unmistakeable tracks only a river otter would make. A lot of the river's frozen, but there are open areas as well and I could see where the otter had left the water and walked / slid along the snow before dropping back into the water again. It made me wonder how a river otter spends its nights. They spend their days in the water, but must have dens they use to escape the cold.
Monday... Easy 3 mile treadmill run. My achilles is doing better, but not ready for a serious run just yet...
Dan... what a day you had! 9.5 mile run, then 2.5 miles on shoeshoes? You're in GOOD shape!
Chantilly... I like the mixed bag you threw at your body yesterday, variety is the spice of life AND our workouts...
Fletch... I watched that same 4 X 5K women's xc event. The finish was unbelievable, what a comeback for Sweden! And what a nice picture of your wife and dogs, the smallest of the 3 is a spitting image of our last dog. My wife's looking hard these days for another one, but nothing yet.
Gito... no PR, but a nice workout in that 10K just the same. Slippery footing, winter clothing and cold air? You did good!
Deb- wow, that's a great time in those conditions. just wait till your first 10K on dry pavement.
Fletch- Yes, Chula Vista is one of the 3 large resorts with indoor/outdoor waterparks. They have their own golf course as well. Fun place to play. Nice pic. That snow looks like what we had today.
Rich- I didn't write clearly; my 9.5 was Friday, the 2.5 on snowshoes was Saturday. REst day yesterday, planned TM work out but the snow storm sent me home as soon as I finished work to clean up the driveway, etc. I may just go out on the local roads early in the morning since it won't be single digits!
Saturday - cross training by hauling 16 4x8 sheets of sheetrock, 2 at a time, up our stairs to the room we're having remodeled. Not an easy job because of how our stairs are built.
Sunday - 3 mile snowshoe jaunt, breaking trail all the way ... sunny but windy.
Monday - 7 mile run on the treadmill @ the Y, .25 mile walking cool-down.
More snow forecast for Tuesday - 4" or more ...
adkkev - nice work on the TM, and the snowshoes, but the toughest of all is the sheetrock work!
Dan - Hope the temps got up so you could get out on the roads today. I know you're tired of the snow clearing, and forced TM work.
Rich - another nice day on the ski trail. It's good you have that to keep you active while the Achilles heals. Re: dogs - all three of ours are rescue dogs. The smallest is a Shih Tzu mix, about 5 years old, but only with us for two years now. They're a good pack.
Chantilly - nice run with your son. Sorry the friend won't be able to do the marathons.
Deb - only 30 seconds from your 60 minute 10k, and on a difficult course...that's a great race! And a great follow-up - Florentine Eggs Benedict! YUM is right!
Rest day Monday, and will not be running today. Plan is to do 3-4 miles tomorrow, rest Thursday, then easy 2 miles Friday, followed by the 5k on Saturday (kinda following your advice, Rich).
Being new to the racing thing, I could use some input: First, I typically track my runs with Runkeeper app on my smartphone. I've carry it in my hand, and can easily glance down at it to track my pace. I'm afraid if I don't have that with me in the race, I'll get caught up in the excitement and the crowd, and go out too fast. I know the best solution is a GPS watch, which I do not have. OK, I'm cheap ...I like using the Runkeeper app, and have hesitated to buy the watch to use just for races. But I don't want to be "THAT GUY"...you know, the one they talk about later..."did you see the old dork carrying his cell phone in the race?" Is it a serious no-no for me to carry the smartphone in a race? (I promise not to answer a call.
Second, I'm curious as to how you all warm up before a race? Do you just jog around right before you go to the start line? Do you have certain warm-up exercises you do?
I hate to sound so clueless, but this is only my second race, and I was so new at it for the first one, I didn't really pay attention to these things. Thanks for the input.
Fletch_NC I see lots of runners with a cell instead of an iPod in races. (and several were talking on their phone as they ran!)
But many people use it for the GPS or for music, so, no, you wouldn't look out of place.
As for warm-up, sometimes I will run around the block before I even drive to the race. Just to loosen up. But many people jog around at the race site, some just stand around, some stretch, it depends on the person.
Don't do anything different than what you normally do going out for a run. For example, if you stretch, then stretch, but if you don't stretch, don't start now.
Same with food, eat what you usually have, but if you only have a drink before running, then don't start eating food just because it is a race.
Practising good race etiquette means the fastest runners should be at the front of the start line. So for a sizeable 5 Km, that means only runners who are under 20 minutes should be up front. The rest of us stay back sort of in the middle, if you can do mid-20's minutes. Walkers should always be at the back, but a lot of them don't seem to know this.
Because some people don't pay attention to race etiquette, you may find yourself weaving in and out trying to pass slower participants, which impacts your overall finishing time, and can make a person wear themselves out too quickly.
So, you have to kind of judge what kind of runners there are, so you don't start out too far back and have to pass a lot of people, but not too far up, so that you get in the way of some hotshots.
NH Runner wiki says that river otters have a den under tree roots.
justrundan have a good rest day. (cleaning up the driveway..)
adkkev a lot of work you have there, plus the running..
10 miles this morning, then I tripped over my foot and fell into the corner of the bleachers. Thankfully, I only cut and bruised up 2 fingers. The seniors came over to see if I was ok. How embarrassing. Went home for bandages immediately.
Tuesday, 2/18... social event today with the group that gets together every Tuesday. Pace was easy, 3 of us were on skis and the father with his young son in the ski equipped stroller ran. A fun time...
Dan... I don't care if you did those 2 workouts on separate days, you're still doing great.
adkkev... I think I'd rather run than haul a bunch of sheetrock upstairs, you've had a busy last few days!
Fletch... absolutely be careful about what you put in your stomach the morning of the race! If your stomach's trying to digest food at the same time your body's directing blood to your muscles so you can run fast, you'll probably get a side stitch. We're all different, but I can't eat anything within 2 hours of race start or I'll cramp. As far as warming up, I usually run at least an easy mile and try to time it so I finish within a few minutes of the race start. The idea is to warm up the big muscles you'll be racing with and at the end of that warm-up I'll throw in a few 50 yard sprints at 5K pace. Lastly, once the gun sounds, try to get into YOUR pace as quickly as possible. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement and go out too fast, just be conscious of it and rein yourself in asap.
Jeez Chantilly, be careful! Hopefully no long term soreness after your trip into the corner of those bleaches! Nice run though, just the same!
Chantilly - Were they "killer" bleachers? Hope you're ok. Nice runs!
Dan - Sounds like you're going to do well this year! Keep it up!
Adkkev - Nice cross training! Only thing worse then 4x8 3/4" plywood is sheet rock! 2 at a time? Dude you must have long arms! Hope the work goes well.
Rich - nice ski work! Is the achilles still getting better?
Debra - Did I read that right? Another PR in the 10K this weekend! Bodes really well for upcoming races given the conditions! Congrats! The KT tape, is it pre-measured?
Fletch - How to warm up? That is a great question. I think for the shorter races (10K and under) the warm up is important. 10 miles and above, you can use the race to warm up and it won't make that much of a difference. I think for the others you really do, cuz you want to go reasonably fast right at the start. I don't warmup before a training run - I know that first mile is just getting the parts loose. Stretching has been shown to actually hurt performance, but warming up helps. A 1/4 to 1/2 mile jog with some short sprints should get you loose. For me, it also helps to calm me down 'cuz I get nervous.
Race Saturday went better and worse then I expected. Calf held up well. But, on a flat course ran about 10 seconds per mile slower then first 5K of previous 10K which was hilly. Official time was 22:28, good enough for 1st in AG, 45 seconds ahead of the next old guy. Immediately walked to the massage booth and got leg worked on. Might have to do regular massages to keep things loose. KT tape seemed effective.
Saturday took walk to Palo Alto (4+miles), Sunday did 6+ mile walk at Coyote Hills (east bay). Monday, hiked trails that included parts of the Dipsea run in Marine (~7 miles) then drove to Bay Bridge to hike the walkway (5.5 miles) and then walked to food trucks for dinner (3 miles). Tired of walking and ready to see how the calf is doing did 7.11 miles in 59:41 at lunch today.
Ray
Hi fellow runners! Am still 'around' ....... just been waiting out the freezing temps and latest snowstorm. Attended a 3 day conference last week, about 40 miles north of here. Like I wanted to see MORE snow and be in lower temps!! BRRR!! It snowed most of the day last Thursday, but dreary, cloudy, cold, windy Fri/Sat/Sun, then it snowed again yesterday but sun came out in the evening for a beautiful sunset! Watched it from the warmth of my house while on the health rider, weights, core exercises, watching the Olympics. But today, woke up to gorgeous SUNNY day, some clouds here and there but it was pretty warm, in the upper 20s and low 30s!! Met DH for lunch, ran some errands, and couldn't wait to go for a run this afternoon!! YIPPEE!! Snowpacked road around the neighborhood and frontage road had some slushy/wet areas. About 32 degrees, 12mph wind, feels like 18 degrees at the start, OMgoodness!! It was awesome!! 4.1 miles with 1 minute walk break at 2 miles, 43 mins!! YAY!! Knee is good, ankle was missing the workout in the snow . Hope to run each day until the next snowstorm comes through this weekend ........but temps shouldn't be too bad.
Fletch: I had to watch the women's 4X5 km cross country relay at least 3 times, from start to finish!! The anchor leg (Kalla) for team Sweden was incredible!! I was cheering for her as she caught up with teams Finland and Germany and she went on the inside track to sprint to the finish!! Same with team USA/Russia in first round of hockey!! The shootout was thrilling, a nailbiter, love those!! DH and I have been recording events and trying to stay on top of the results, not watching the sports news. Love the photo of the snow in NC. It is much more fun when it's not too cold to go outside. DW is beautiful, and the dogs seem to enjoy a change in the weather too! I agree with suggestions from both Chantilly and others! Run your race; you'll learn from each experience; I don't run with music but I have carried (Nathan belt) my cell to take photos and let DH/sister know where I am to 'feed' me on my marathons! But I don't carry cell in other races. I do about 5-10 mins of dynamic exercises, jog about 1/4 mile and do most of my stretching AFTER the race.
Deb: You would have sub 1:00 if the race was in dry conditions!! Your finish time was still AWESOME!! Congrats!! How did DS do? When is the next series race?
Chantilly: You're amazing!! And a tough cookie ......I know the feeling. I've fallen on mtn trails and still feel stupid ......you know, if a tree falls in the forest ............LOL!! Glad you are okay and there were others there to help.
Rich: I have yet to go snow shoeing and XC skiing ............but with the warmer temps this week, I am looking forward to it ......in my backyard first ......to get over falling on my face without anyone seeing me, LOL!!
Ray: YAY!! Congrats on the AG finish!! Speedy recovery on the calf, those massages are glorious especially after races!
adkkev: what part of the NE are you? We've had our share of the storms here too but the brunt of it seems to be hitting you all on the east coast. Take care!
Chantilly-Ouch! So sorry about the fall. The nerve of those bleachers to get in your way! Good the seniors were there to help. Tomorrow they won't remember a thing about it, so no need to be embarrassed! Hope you and the injured fingers are doing better. Unfortunately, no daughters. DS1 is the older of 2 dear sons. I do have a few honorary daughters to do "girl" things with, though.
Rich-River otters, sled dogs ... what will you see next? You have a wonderful area to explore.
Dan-Hope you were able to get outside for a run today. The weather is just what we needed to lift our frozen spirits.
adkkev-Nice workout, including the stair climbing moving all the sheetrock!
Fletch-Lots of great race advice from Chantilly, Rich, Ray and AZ. I'll just add ... Have a blast, and we want to hear all about it!
Ray-Sorry the race wasn't what you wanted, but if the calf held up well it is all good! Yes, my 10k was a teeny, tiny 20 second PR - I'll take it!
AZ-Thought of you when I spoke to my niece in the Twin Cities, and she mentioned it was sunny and warm. I know you're farther north, but happy to read the weather was good enough to get out for a run. Next 10k is in March, I'm hopeful but the course is hilly. DS is trying for a 19:00 5k, but has been dealing with a lot of illness this season.
Yesterday, 4 mile walk, planks, bridges, bands and shoveling 7" of fresh snow. Nothing compared to New England or NC last week! Today, ran 5 miles on the parkway in 48 degree sunshine. Almost forgot what that temp feels like. It was sloppy, but fantastic!
Run strong and safe friends!