Runs in the rain
Rich - I figured the avatar was of your tryke, I wish it was in higher resolution so I could see how it was made. I live in Geneseo NY near the finger lakes. Some of my runs go to the shores of Lake Conesus. The finger lakes were made by glaciers in the ice age. It is hilly around here and most of my runs have some climbs of two or three hundred feet. I am about 30 miles south of the city of Rochester and about 40 south of Lake Ontario. Buffalo is about 50 miles west of me. Geneseo is the county seat and has a state university college. I live in the village, but the countryside is just a mile or so away, so I am mostly in farm country on my longer runs. Geneseo is known for it's horses, but on my runs I also see sheep, cows, goats, and chickens. there was even a pair of Lamas here at one time. The farms mostly raise corn and I think soybeans, but there are a few dairy farms as well. Geneseo is in a river valley of the Genesee river which starts in Pennsylvania and runs through Rochester to Lake Ontario. In a typical winter we get snow as early as October and as late as early May. Usually in winter the nighttime temperatures are in the teens and reach the low 20s by the afternoon. Most of the winters here the ground is covered with snow , but there are few warm days where it might all melt. Due to "lake effect" the sky is generally overcast and there may be some flakes, but I am far enough from the great lakes that it isn't too bad. Buffalo, for example, being right by the lake shores can get many feet of snow. This winter has been very mild with most days getting above freezing. A lot of my runs have been when it is in the 40s and twice last month I was able to run in shorts and a tee shirt. There have been cold days with snow, but nothing above an inch or two and none of it stayed beyond a few days without melting. Thursday was cold in the low 20s with some sun, but today it is overcast again and my thermometer is reading 42 degrees right now. Of course this can all turn around and we may get hit with several feet of snow before spring. I should mention that I do the local "Oak Tree Half Marathon" here in September. I hope this gives some idea of what the local conditions are like here. I will take my camera out on some of my runs and post some photos.
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?Get up, get out, get out of the door!
Sunday, 2/12... if you've watched the national weather, you know the Northeast is getting hammered by another Nor'easter as I type. We're forecast for 3 to 7 inches today, another 4 to 8 overnight and 1 to 3 more tomorrow. Tomorrow's winds at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 35 and 26 degrees for a high. So.., my workout will be plowing snow before dark this evening, again first thing in the morning and one more time after the snow stops and the plows are finished.
Art... Nice run yesterday. I've decided I'm going to give the turkeys names and get 'em used to coming when I call. I have box calls, slate calls and mouth calls all designed to sound like a female turkey seductress to lure the male turkey to the call. I'll have 'George' and 'Henry' trained by Spring to come running at the sound of their names, turkey hunting's never been so easy...lol
Altair5... sounds like beautiful country where you live. Looking at the weather forecast, you may get a visit from this Nor'easter as well, good luck with that. And thanks for a description of where you live, farm country is hard to beat...
Altair5 Your training plan seems to be quite good for you to BQ later on.
I'm not a fast runner, so ultra training for me is to spend as much time on my feet as possible because I will be walking several hours in the race.
NH Runner The video looks like the machine would get through packed snow/ice better than a snow blower. Sounds like a lot of snow your way. Those arms are getting a winter workout.
Where's the challenge in having pet turkeys for Thanksgiving? 🦃 LOL... might as well have a brooder house full of chickens.🐓
mfender Those are some good workouts for your race.
Art in AZ Nice run for you and a good harvest from the garden.
rmcj001 Hope you have a safe trip and can make your Boston training goals.
3 days off/work
9 mile run at 7 AM on the track. No one else running, except baseball cap guy.
3 mile run at 10:30 AM with son. Lots of people there.
More than 2 hours of walking today, including the track and the malls.
"dancing on the path and singing, now you got away,
you can reach the goals you set from now on, every day"
Sonata Arctica
justrundan
Altair5- did the winter storms snow you in this weekend? It sounds like a pretty area; I live in a rural farming area of south central Wisconsin, so it may be similar.
Chantilly- you do keep moving a lot, good prep for your 24 hour 'marathon'.
Rich- your old snow plow will get quite the workout!!
Spent Thursday and Friday in Milwaukee while DW had state reading convention. Thursday I put in 9 miles between TM and long walk to and from a local coffee house near Lake Michigan. Then more TM work Friday and at home Sat/Sun. 4 days in a row!! Whooo-hoo!
You all have great weeks.
Dan
Today makes three consecutive mornings without a run. I'm sure I'm cranky (even more than usual) because of it. I just hate when life gets in the way of my running! This is already shaping up to be one of those weeks when I have the least time for running and need it the most.
Chantilly - Keep stacking up those miles! Fantastic stuff!
Dan - Nice work with those travel miles! Had you been in Milwaukee before? I'm always a little hesitant to do much running in unfamiliar areas. As much as I hate to, when I'm traveling, I tend to stick to the hotel treadmills. Unless there's a jogging/walking path nearby.
Rich - Thanks for the laughs about your turkey "hunting" plans! I needed that today!
Altair - The geography you describe sounds beautiful, while making for challenging running. I feel a little like a slacker because I usually try to stick to routes that are flat (not much of a problem in So.TX). The few times I have run races that were what I consider hilly, it was a struggle. Do you get accustomed to the climbs, or are they a struggle every time you run them?
Hope everyone has a great week!
Mark
Dan - only had about an inch and a half of snow overnight. Already it is just above freezing and is melting on the road and driveways. Tomorrow it is supposed to get near 40 degrees!
Mark - I exaggerate somewhat, not every one of my runs climbs 200 to 300 foot hills, but many of my longer runs do that or more. I get used to the more gradual hills, but the steep ones still get me. I have to slow to a shuffle. I try not to walk and try to get to the top before I rest. It is also hard after a long run to face even slight hills at the end. Still, hill work is great for increasing strength and cardio fitness. I have been struggling to find a area where I can run a flat mile! Today's run of 6 miles for example, had a mile climb of 100 feet near the end.
justrundan Nice to get in the 4 days in a row. Sounds like a good trip for you and your family.
mfender Yes it is a problem sometimes to have enough time to get in the training. I hope your work settles down.
I like TX, but have only been in Houston and Dallas. Would like to see the rest of the state in the future.
Altair5 It seems as though you live in a lovely area. very scenic-like NH Runner's
4 mile run on the track.
20 minute walk.
Finished wallpaper removal.
Sunday did a 14 mile bike ride under cloudy and cool skies. Even drizzled a couple of times. Riding the bike made for a cooler ride that required a second layer of shirt to ease some of the wind chill.
3 mile run today around noon after working in the garden for about an hour. Got one tomato plant in the ground. It was started from seed. planning last planting of radishes, onions, carrots and peas from seeds. Worked some of the broccoli and cauliflower leaves into the compost pile. Saw lots of worms in the soil.
Altair - Nice sounding area. Reminds me a little of when I lived in Northern Illinois.
Rich - Was wondering how much snow you might get based on the weather reports.
Chantilly - Nice dual runs. I imagine that not many people wanted to get out early on a Sunday morning.
Dan - Nice streak there. Though I wonder how 'local' that coffee shop was.
Mark - We all have had days like that. Fortunately they don't happen that often.
Art in AZ
Mesa, AZ
Tuesday, 2/13... final clean up from the Nor'easter this morning, we ended up getting about a foot total. Forecasters said we had 40 to 50 mph wind gusts after the storm rolled through, my neighbor following along behind his snow blower looked just like Frosty...lol I'm new to snow plowing and made the mistake of not properly taking care of the 4 inches snow we got the other day that turned to rain, then froze solid over night. I didn't get it out of the way enough for the new snow coming in and now I can't move it... So, I had to shovel quite a bit. Not your typical workout, but I'll take it.
Chantilly... I can't believe you wouldn't think it's a challenge to train a wild turkey to recognize and come running when his name is called...lol It's so hard during the Spring hunting season when every mature tom turkey has a harem of girls following him around. You call to him, trying to sound like the Marilyn Monroe of the turkey world and all he does is roll his eyes and go 'pffffftt'...lol And yeah, my little tractor's a toughie, if you're not up to your neck in snow, it can actually be fun to use. Speaking of toughie, nice workouts Sunday and Monday!
Dan... I'm jealous of the workouts you're getting in lately, nice! And yeah, the tractor got in quite a workout the last couple of days, dragging me around as it pushed the snow...lol
mfender... the way I understand it, you have about a week's grace period of not running before your body starts to lose fitness and even then it's a very gradual process. I know what you're saying though, when you love to run, it's frustrating when life gets in the way. Hills are an excellent way to improve your running fitness.
Altair5... I thought for sure the last storm would leave you with a sizeable amount of snow, nice that you dodged a bullet. We've actually got another storm coming in tonight, but only 1 to 3 inches predicted. Those hills you run will pay dividends when you strike out on a 26.2 mile marathon later this year, your training's going well.
Art... you're lucky to have such a long growing season for your garden, fresh veggies you've grown yourself are hard to beat. A bike ride and a run the last 2 days. Nice...
Art in AZ Nice bike ride, although coolish for you. You must have good soil if the worms like it.
NH Runner Did you get more snow this year than usual? You won't be losing any arm fitness this winter dealing with all that snow. We haven't had that that much snow, maybe because of the extreme temperature changes, one week -40F windchill, the next week is 34F and sunny.
Maybe you could get a duck-caller, only for turkeys, if your Marilyn Monroe voice isn't cutting it. LOL
9 miles on the track.
Good evening all!
Art - nice job doubling up on the running and biking. I guess tripling up really with the gardening too. I should have done some of that when my running was sidelined with the plantar faciatis, but never did. I'm not sure why, but a 5-mile bike ride is about as difficult for me as a 5-mile run. I think I'm strange in that respect.
Chantily - I'm near San Antonio. Hope you get to visit it sometime. I think it's a pretty nice running city - the parts of the Riverwalk that are away from downtown make for some great running, as do all of the Greenway Trails they have. Probably sounds weird, but I have driven 20+ miles to run on the trails rather than running on the roads at home.
Absolutely gorgeous, "chamber of commerce" weather in So TX today! Home from work at 5 pm with sunny skies and 64-degrees. Did an up-tempo 5K run in just under 24 minutes to burn off some of the accumulated work stress. It was the first time I had been able to run since Friday, and it felt wonderful!
Hope everyone is having a great week!
Hi everyone!!
Welcome Mark! Great to have you join the forum and sharing your experiences. I learn a lot from everyone. I'm currently at our northern AZ home (just arrived last week) till April and driving back to northern MN where we are living 'permanently' for awhile due to DH's work. I'm happy to be able to travel back and forth through the year. Nice tempo run there!! Sorry to hear that you're also healing from injury, same here. Very frustrating to say the least when you can't get in the long miles but you'll get there sooner than you think. I know that I'm having to deal with being more patient than I gave myself credit for. BTW: I lived/worked/attended UTHSCSA back in the 90's. Also, when visiting colleagues/friends in SA a couple of years ago in Dec., I ran the McAllen FM!! It started out awesome but around 20 mile, the HOT humid windy temps got to me, made me puked for the first time in a race. Finished upright but it was EARNED!! LOL!! Going from training runs in below zero degrees in MN to 90 degrees in TX just didn't agree w/ me. It happens, haha! Anyway, welcome!!
Rich: you are hardcore in maintaining fitness and keeping positive, good for you!! I know what you mean about getting the snow plowed, even those few inches, before it freezes over. DH grudgingly does so but it's worth the exercise as we don't go skidding on the driveway, LOL!!
Chantilly: wooohooo!! you stay at it girl!!
Dan: Nice miles on the dreadmill.
Altair5: DH and I need to get in a visit to friend/colleagues in Rochester "one of these days." I've been wanting to run the "international" marathon from Buffalo to Canada. That would be a hoot!! The temps in northern AZ is around the 20s/30s/ but NICE in the daytime of 40s/50s!! And most of all, it's SUNNY!! Would love to see some photos.
Ray: you may have left the country by now but wishing you safe travels and hope you get in some runs there!
So I left northern MN on 2/3 (Fri), drove/stayed in northern Nebraska!! Most partly cloudy w/ occasional wind gusts/light snow flurries. 2/4, left early and drove through CO and stayed the night w/ a good friend in northern NM. 2/5, left early and arrived in the Four Corners of NM, some snow in the shadows but cool temps and MOUNTAINS!! I missed my mountains! I'm around 6000 ft now. Visited w/ my parents and stayed w/ one of my younger brothers, watched the SUPER BOWL on a projection screen on the wall. Can you get a bigger screen?!? Geeeezzz!! Was disappointed about the outcome of the game but it was a great game nonetheless. 2/6 and 2/7, drove to Durango, CO to visit my best friend recovering from back surgery and stayed there. She is doing good. 2/8, left early and met older brother for lunch. He lives/works near the NM/AZ stateline. Then made it to northern AZ home on Wed evening, 2/8. Long drive but worth every minute!! Ran my dirt mountain trail on Thurs, 5.2 miles!! And on Friday, 3.6 miles. Got in a couple of hill running just because I could, haha!! This trail is not as 'hilly' as the others, but it's around 6800 ft in elevation. I honestly don't have any problems w/ running at this altitude. IT WAS SO INVIGORATING and I'm a happy camper.
Saturday, drove to Phoenix, visited w/ the 2 grand-daughters (went to the park), and then picked up DH at airport. We drove back to our northern AZ home that evening after having dinner. DH is here for a week. It snowed, rained, sleeted and very windy for 2 days. On Tuesday, 2/14, ran 5.5 miles on the dirt trail again, ran a couple of good technical hills. This is the LONGEST distance yet, YIPPEE!!
Rested yesterday, lots of errands to get done. I'm on my way to the trails again today. Hope to get in another 5 miles. Maybe 6? My goal is to get a 10 miler before my return trip to MN. I'm keeping up w/ all the strength exercises recommended by the PT in MN and it's helping a lot. Not sure if I will run any races. I'm interested in a 10k trail race near Albuquerque, NM and I will get to visit DS/DIL as well as other family/friends. I love running the trails on the Sandia Mts. I'm also 'training' for my Grand Canyon hike next month. My trail running buddy from MN is visiting me and we are looking forward to exploring the Canyon, our 'backyard' as we say, LOL!! I love being 'home.'
Will check in when I can.
Stay safe, warm and enjoy the spring-like days!!
Thursday, 2/16...It seems little silly to post on a running forum when you're not running, doesn't it? Anyway, the weather forecast was for 2 to 4 inches of snow overnight, but I woke up this morning to another foot on the ground and more coming down! lol And I'm the guy running out of places to put the stuff ...lol I got creative and got the driveway cleared off, but I need some sunshine and warm weather pretty darn soon...lol Between the plowing and shoveling, who needs to run, eh?.lol I will be dropping out for a bit here though, will check in to track everyone's progress, but really should be talking about running...
Chantilly... we had an average Winter snowfall going 'til February, since then it's been one storm after another. We're forecast now for warm weather and sunshine for the next few days, hopefully it's the start of a different weather pattern. I can see you haven't called to many turkeys Chantilly, sounding like a duck probably wouldn't work... Nice run Tuesday...
mfender... nice run and really nice weather! Good for you...
az... what an uplifting post! Lot's of time with family on the drive out and some nice trail runs with no issues, good stuff! The last few months were a little tough, but you've come back nicely. Congrats!
Good morning all!
az - Thanks! I have enjoyed participating in the forum since joining it a couple of weeks ago. Great positivity and helpful advice, especially concerning returning from an injury. I was surprised at how long it took me "resting" my foot and not running at all for it to improve, but since then I have found out that my recovery was probably shorter than average. The return to my pace and distance didn't happen overnight, but it has not been too bad. I'm not running anywhere close to PR pace, but at 51, that might not ever happen again. I love Minnesota! More so in the summer obviously. I married a MN girl and have spent a couple of winters up there - cannot even imagine running in that stuff! And then to train in that before running a FM in the RG Valley! Yikes! You are much braver than me! Nice trail runs since getting back "home" - great work!
Rich - I hope you get a break in the weather soon. That's crazy stuff! I'm sure the shoveling makes for a great upper body workout!
A nice, steady 3.25 mile run at the track this morning in 45 degrees. Every mile was somewhere in the 7:50s, so I'm happy with that for a training run. The foot is still feeling good, so all systems are "go" for my return to racing two weeks from tomorrow! Can't wait! Haven't run in a race since June!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!