Going Long (again) in 2024

6 easy at 8:55.  Today is the 'official' start of my 18 week Boston Marathon Training Program, ala Hansons.  The first 2 weeks, however, won't see much change from my previous 2 months of running - hitting 42 miles/week consistently.

I did throw in 3 striders.  Last time I did that was almost 3 weeks ago, when it caused a strain in my groin.  I'm still sore from that, but it's gradually improving.  Ran 6 hard that time; today just the 3, and not quite as hard.

My left palm is still a little sore from the fall on Friday, but nothing serious.  The tip of my nose, however, got a bit frozen yesterday and is hurting.  I ran with a neck tube pulled up over my nose today, and that helped a lot.  The only challenge is breathing hard through it when I was hitting the strides.  I don't think I'll be able to do speed or tempo work with it on, but we'll see.  

Easy run in the snow; 8:51 pace.  My day off, so was able to wait until sun rise to get out there.  A lot warmer too - all the way up to -13C/20F.  I was actually overdressed for it.

It snowed a lot last night, and it was still falling pretty good through my run.  So, I was basically running on the road, in the car tire tracks.  When cars came, I had to take the shoulder and into the mash potato snow.  When I came to the section where there are sidewalks, the sidewalk plough literally came at just that minute, and so I was able to run on clear walkways.

There was one dog incident, and I came the closest yet to using my pepper spray.  On this one section, there are 2 bigger dogs that I know, but are never a problem.  They sit and watch me go by, wagging their tails, and never making a move to me.  Today, however, a guy was walking his dog in that area.  It looked to be a mix of husky,shepherd and teeth.  He had no control of it, and it made a dash for me.  I pulled out the spray and pointed it.  The man kept yelling "he just wants to play - he won't bite".  How many runners have heard THAT before?  Anyway, I first kicked snow it its face, and that stopped it and was the end of it.  Having that spray with me, however, sure gives an extra level of assurance.  It's nice to have.

Easy run; 9:09 pace.  Fairly strong headwind in miles 4 & 5, and it slowed me down quite a bit.

Easy run in the cold; 8:46 pace.  Almost chose the treadmill this morning, but these temperatures are not going to get warmer any time soon, so I figured I'd see how it felt to run when it was -19C/-3F, with a windchill factor making it -29C/-20F.  

Yup.  Minus 20F.

Well, it turns out it's not that bad when you dress for it.  Only my eyes were exposed, and so if you can keep your eyelashes from freezing shut, it's all good.  And a major plus ... that soft snow is no more.  It's frozen pretty solid, and so a much easier surface to run on.

So, all in all, it's doable.  Maybe not for faster runs, since breathing through the tube would be more difficult.  But for easy paced runs, not a problem.

Easy run; 8:57 pace.  Three striders thrown in at miles 3, 4 and 5.  Three weeks since I strained that groin, and it's about 90% now - almost completely healed.

Yesterday was the coldest day so far - my off day, fortunately.  It was -33C/-27F.  Today, it has warmed up to -25C/-14F.  I decided to tough it out, because there is a Colorado Low heading our way (thanks Colorado), which means a ton of snow, which means I'll likely hit the treadmill for a few days until the streets are safe again.

I decided to chance running outside, despite the amount of snow that has fallen overnight.  Traffic is usually light on a Saturday morning, and it has warmed up quite a bit to -14C/6F, and the sun was kinda poking out every now and then.  

Nothing was ploughed yet, so I was running in the tire tracks that packed the snow.  Every time a car came, I took to the shoulder where the snow was about 6-8 inches deep.  It was powdery, but still challenging enough to run through.

This routine worked well enough, and with the snow covering the spruce trees in the woods, it was quite a wonderful scene to run in.  I should have just turned around at mile 5 and backtracked on the same route, but I didn't.  So, the 2 mile section of sidewalk along the 5 lane highway was not ploughed, and it was impossible to run through.  Well, I tried.  It slowed me down to an 11 minute mile pace and was killing my legs.

So, I did that for just a half mile, until I came to a sidestreet that brought me home a back way.  

Overall, my pace averaged 9:01/mile.  Not bad, given the conditions.