Week in Review

62 miles
20 mins. ellip.
4 AFDs
2 snow days

I'm very pleased with this week. I added a few more miles from last week, completed two solid workouts and soldiered through a very snowy run at McAlpine. More importantly, my body has handled the additional stress remarkably well. I'm feeling strong and much closer to being fit than I have in a very long time. Next weekend's 5k at the Armory will be my first true test of fitness, and I'm both excited and anxious to see what these old legs can do.

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Slow and Sloppy McAlpine Run

76 mins. (9.5-10 miles)

I met Jess at Old Bell for today's long-ish run, uncertain but hopeful about the trail's conditions. As it turned out, this run more or less sucked. The snow was several inches deep and too soft in most places to support our weight, which essentially meant we were sinking in and spinning our wheels for most of the run. There were several miles on the Footlocker course that weren't too bad (possibly because it was under tree cover and therefore didn't see as much precip hit the ground?), but overall this was a very slow and frustrating go. On the bright side, the landscape was beautiful and the sun kept temperatures very comfortable throughout.

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Snow Day Shenanigans

6 miles

The winter storm we'd all been preparing for came to fruition last night and throughout the day today, blanketing the entire state with more ice and snow than it's seen in quite some time. That meant virtually every activity involving driving was canceled today, including the team's meet at Chapel Hill and my shift at Run For Your Life. Jordan and I planned to spend the day inside reading, watching movies, drinking cocoa and otherwise enjoying being snowed in.


Fixing up some hot cocoa in his robe and slippies

But first, of course, we ventured out for a run. Jordan may have spent four years dealing with these conditions while at Brown, but as a lifelong Southerner I'm still captivated by the novelty of winter weather. Neither of us were too concerned with pace or distance, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take some photos of the white landscape while meandering around a familiar route. Just after leaving the house, we made an impromptu decision to trek down to Run For Your Life and pay the staff a visit. Though most of us had been called off, a few brave souls would still be purveying footwear despite the inclement weather. It took right around three miles for us to reach the store after detouring down the bike path and past Freedom Park. We saw a few other runners, nodding our mutual respect as we passed, but for the most part the only folks outside were kids and families who were playing in the white stuff.


Mythbusting in Freedom Park

Surprisingly, RFYL was bustling when we arrived at the halfway point of our run. I'm thinking it speaks volumes for the expertise of the store staff if people are willing to risk their lives for footwear, right? Is it too obvious I'm angling for a raise? At any rate, we spent several minutes chatting with Tim and Ben and enjoying a warm break. Once we'd worn out our welcome, it was time to hit the streets once more and return home to settle in for the long haul. Snow days might grow boring after a while, but when they come this few and far between they're a rare treat.


You can barely see the bike path beneath the snow.

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Racing the Weather

2.5 mile w/u
3 mile predator @ 17:52 (5:58, 5:59, 5:55)
2.5 mile c/d
Total: 8 miles

The impending inclement weather was on everyone's minds this morning, so Jess and I planned to go to McAlpine for our workout immediately following her morning class. Though no precip was falling at the time, it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine what would unfold later in the day. Thick, low-lying clouds, temperatures in the low 40s and falling, and a stiff, blustery wind greeted us upon our arrival at Old Bell. There wasn't much dilly-dallying before beginning our warmup.

As soon as we got started, it became apparent that the trail would be running much slower than usual. Normally the densely-packed dirt is almost as firm as your average neighborhood street, but apparently Parks and Rec had recently added more soil in response to last week's heavy rainfall. As a result, many sections of the trail were as soft and uneven as running on a beach. I wouldn't mind during a normal run, but for today's hard effort it would prove frustrating.

After some debate, Jess and I decided to be as un-creative as usual and stick with a familiar course: out and back from the one mile mark on the Footlocker course. This meant that we'd have a nice little tailwind boost early on, but would face a stiff headwind for the last mile or so of the run. Makes you tougher, I suppose. We started out at a brisk clip but due to the wind assistance I felt like I was jogging. In fact, I felt amazing all the way to the turnaround point despite the iffy terrain. By the time I hit the 2-mile marker, however, the wind had begun to wear me down. The section from 2 to 2.5 felt like an absolute crawl; sure enough, I went through the half mile mark in 3:03, my slowest section yet. I dug in and increased the effort as much as possible toward the end, surprising myself by closing in 2:52. It definitely didn't feel easy, but in the end I ran 25 seconds faster than on this exact same workout two weeks ago. Further, the weather conditions were perfect on that day and the dirt was a non-issue, which makes today's run that much better than the previous one. I'm still not fit, but it's satisfying to see that I'm getting there.

Speaking of satisfying, after one of the best hot showers I've experienced, the rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing with coffee and peanut butter M&Ms. The first flurries began to fly around 5, and it occurred to us that we should probably fortify our supplies for the weekend ahead. What started as an innocent and well-intentioned trip to the grocery store turned into a huge mistake. Apparently everyone within a five mile radius of Dilworth/Myers Park was convinced that the apocalypse was upon us and thus needed to stock up on necessities like milk, frozen pizza and alcohol. The line for the self-checkout was backed up farther than at a Jonas Brothers album signing, and we spent a good 30 minutes queueing up with the masses in hopes of taking home our own rations of said necessities. It was absolute chaos. Fortunately we made it home before the streets became undriveable and settled in for the night. Stay tuned for winter wonderland photos tomorrow morning!

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Twice in a Row

AM: 57 mins. (~8 miles)
PM: 3 miles + strength

Yup, you're reading the title correctly. For the second day in a row, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and complete our entire run before the sun came up. I'm beginning to think we could actually make this into a weekly routine (but don't hold me to that just yet...baby steps). And I will say that while the whole "waking up" process still sucks, I've noticed that I have more energy throughout the day on the days I've gotten up early. During times when I expected to be tired and dragging, I've been surprisingly awake and alert. Further, I've started feeling better during the early runs as well. Today we finished up with a noticeably faster clip than the previous two runs I've done with the CRC group, but my legs had no problem responding. I hate to say it, but I think I might be getting hooked on this early morning business.

I didn't necessarily need to double this afternoon but couldn't resist the opportunity to spend a few minutes outside in short sleeves and shorts in the unseasonably pleasant weather. It's hard to reconcile the 60-degree temperatures with the knowledge that we're bracing for a huge (relatively speaking) winter storm within the next 24 hours. I'm hoping to complete a late-morning workout tomorrow before things get rough, then settle in with a warm beverage and some reading for the rest of the day. Bring it, Mother Nature.

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6AM From the Dowd

AM: 52 mins. (7 miles)
PM: 20 mins. ellip.
20 mins. core + strength

Last night I set out my entire running costume for this morning, convinced it would make the 5:20 alarm slightly less painful. Believe it or not, my plan worked. That's not to say I bounded out of bed but there was definite progress from last week. The run itself was more enjoyable than last week as well, mostly because it didn't take six miles to get my legs under me. I still lagged toward the back of the group at the outset, but overall I think my body is growing accustomed to the cruel and unusual early morning demands I'm placing on it.

My trip to the fitness center in the afternoon was postponed when I was caught in a bizarre traffic jam trying to access the street from my apartment complex. Turns out the intersection of Park and Woodlawn--for those of you who don't reside in Charlotte, this is a major intersection that happens to be about a quarter mile from our apartment--was temporarily closed after a suspicious package was found on a city bus. The subsequent chaos resulted in me having to flip a U and return home for a bit. Fortunately no one exploded and an hour later I was able to move on with my life.

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First Shape Cutting of 2010

AM: 3 miles
PM: 2 mile w/u
Target: 12x400 w/90 sec. rest @~low 80s
Actual: 82, 82, 81, 80, 80, 80, 79, 79, 77, 75, 79, 77
2 mile c/d
Total: 7 miles

Wow, it's been a while since I've done any serious shape cutting. Four hundos are definitely not one of my favorite workouts, but since my foot speed is practically nonexistent they're a necessary evil. At any rate, due to a combination of many factors I ended up having to run this on my own, with Jenna standing by to call out a majority of the splits. Normally Jess and I would do this type of workout together but it was not meant to be today.

I left work at 3:00 on the dot and set out for the JC Smith track, eager to get started before temps dropped further. The weather has been all over the board the past few days, and at the time of my workout it was in the mid-40s and falling with winds gusting at a pretty brisk clip. Not ideal for a solo workout, but them's the breaks sometimes. After a quick warmup I jumped right into the first interval, apprehensive about how my legs would respond to both the speed and duration of the workout. The first few intervals were choppy and awkward as I tried to adjust to the variable wind. It seemed to be strongest on the home curve, but every few laps or so it would suddenly gust into my face on the backstretch. This added a challenging and not altogether pleasant element to the workout, but I suppose it makes you tougher. Despite the wind and to my pleasant surprise, I slowly started to feel better as the workout progressed. Looking back, I felt much smoother and more relaxed running several seconds per lap faster during the second half of the workout.

Overall, I'm pleased with how this went given my current fitness. Workouts like this are great benchmarks for future, and I'm sure within the coming months I'll have several opportunities to better my efforts today. For now, count it.

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