Fortnight ending 2/15: WINTER!

Ice Beard! 11 miles in single digits will do that. 

Week 1: 26.2 miles. 3 hours 37 minutes. 

Week 2: 30 miles. 4 hours 10 minutes. 

These two weeks brought the worst weather, temperature-wise, of the winter so far. They were also the first two of a three-month buildup period, which means I was ramping up the mileage reasonably heavily the whole time. 

I generally like running in winter, and these two weeks were no exception. I think that having an adversary (of any sort) to run against is what really makes winter running easier for me. Weather gives you an adversary, and the resulting motivation to run against it. 

The last two weeks also marked the introduction of more quality workouts into my routine. Each week, I did a hill workout on Tuesday, and a strength routine following my run on Thursday. I took a different take on the hill workouts this time: rather than repeat one hill over and over, I progress from one hill to the next. For my particular route, the first “hill” is a set of stairs, which rises about 100 feet up the bluffs. The second is a half-mile long, shallow hill that rises 125 feet. Ramsey hill marks the third. And the fourth, which I only ran the second week, is another longer, shallower hill. I still have a good 3 or 4 hills I can add on to this run as I go along. By the time racing season comes along, I should be good to go. 

This fortnight was remarkable in how much fun I had running as well. It was consistently sunny, and snowed just enough that I was often breaking trail on my morning runs. That is, if you count punching through a scant half-inch of snow “breaking trail.” I remember coming back from runs feeling more refreshed and happy than when I left. 

Towards the end of the two-week period, though, winter got a little old. I was planning an 11-mile run the last Saturday of the fortnight, but awoke to find the temperature in the single-digits below zero and the windchill at -25. I chose to run three miles on Saturday and punt the long run till Sunday. 

Sunday I did the planned 11-mile double lap of the River Gorge loop along the Mississippi, and despite the single-digit temperatures and still-significant windchill, I saw more people out and about on the trails than I ever have before. This included another runner, which marks only the third time I’ve seen another runner out on the trail portion of the Gorge. 

I also, despite the temperature and the wind, managed to overheat. 

All in all, it was a good couple of weeks, culminating in a long run that felt, over all, quite good. 

Things are progressing the right direction. 

From long run #1. Morning light over one of my favorite spots on the River Gorge Loop.

I'm sad the focus on my phone couldn't handle this. Just down by Summit ave, this is apparently a place where people come to ice climb in the winter.