Misery (winter), want company? (me)

Freaking winter never ends. Took me almost two hours to get home but that didn't deter me from doing my mileage. Snow, not a lot of it, fell but it's the soft almost slush (but not quite).

Anyways, put on the Yak-Trax and ran my 8 miles through the city. Running in snow is definitely a different type of running. A nice cushioney feel, but it also takes more effort.

And just like that, I've put in 19 miles in two days. Back on track to do 40+ for the week. Now I'm in search of dinner.

A big catchup

Okay, it's been a very busy week and I haven't had time to read or to post. First, catching up on last week's mileage which I did in three cities.

Monday: 8 mile with 4 at LT (in DC)
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 11 miles (in Toronto)
Thursday: 15 miles (in Toronto)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest (but a full day of walking in New York!)
Sunday: 6+ miles in Central Park, just a bit more than a full loop

Weekly mileage: 40 miles (65K)
Year to date: 287 miles (462K)

We did a 2.5 miler on Monday in Central Park before we left. I didn't run Tuesday as I and two co-workers drove up to Ottawa for the federal budget (our flight was cancelled) at 4 a.m. Then we covered the budget and stayed overnight there. We returned yesterday and I was so exhausted that I couldn't go out for a run.

So today, Thursday, I had only put in 2 plus miles. I really want to get good mileage in over the next four days. The plan to get me over 40 miles for the week
Thursday: 11 miles
Friday: 8 miles
Saturday: 6 miles (4 if i'm out of it)
Sunday: 16 miles

It was minus 10C and colder with windchill when I started my 11 miler after work. I used up one handwarmer and it really helped. So I pounded out the run in a bit over 1:30. Three more days of running!

Six miles in Central Park

Second day in NY. Lots of walking but also on this bright sunny morning we did more than 10K in Central Park. Tonnes of runners. Off to do more shopping

Thursday and the long run is done!

Okay, I'm exhausted, burned out and ready for bed.

I had a 15 miler planned for Sunday but since I'll be in New York, I figured I should fit it in today or there would be the possibility that I wouldn't be able to fit it in at all.

It had to be a night run so I was zoned out by the time I got home from work at 6:15 p.m. But I was out there by 6:30.

It had warmed slightly compared with yesterday and I started on the waterfront trail, but there was a lot of ice, so I switched to a city run.

It was a nice strong run. 15 miles or 24.15K done in two hours. I've never done my weekend run in the middle of the week so this was a new experience. All I have left is a 5 mile recovery run on the weekend.

The very very early morning run...

Confession. I charged up the iPod Shuffle and loaded tunes into it last night, knowing I'd be hitting the roads in -10C weather at 5 a.m. Freaking ouch. The early morning run is necessary because I leave home for work at 6:30 a.m. so to get in a 11 miler, I'd need at least 1:30 to do so.

The tunes were to help take a little bit of the bite off the run. I don't usually run with music, but the plan was to run 1K loops so it'd be boring and I'd be tired, so best to take my mind off it. It worked out surprisingly well. It was so early that I encountered very little traffic and
one other runner (we waved). As it turns out, I did 6 loops before I totally got bored and so I ventured out into the city to complete the run.

Midway through the run, I remembered why I love to run in the city in the early morning. I live a kilometre from the city's downtown core, and it's so cool to have the streets all to yourself.

The run itself was great. I was going to target my long run pace but I settled in for a faster pace (the quicker, the more heat I generate and the faster I finish the run.).

So I ended up with 11.01 miles done in 1:30:03 for a 8:10 mile pace or a 5:05K pace. Splits below