Eisenhower = Eisnowhower

Well, this being Saturday means an early morning wake-up and drive to Chaminade to get James to swim practice by 7 am.  I dropped him off and headed to Eisenhower with the hope that maybe the fitness trail was plowed out.

I pulled into the deserted lot right around 7 and was glad to see the plow piles along the path by Lot 1.  I did a quick stretch, noting that the PITA has now located itself squarely in my right hamstring.  I set off at an easy pace along the path, hoping to be able to do the 5k loop -- actually, determined to do the 5k loop.  The bottom half was manageable, and I kept my fingers crossed as I followed the path north of the aquatic center.  Unfortunately, in the lot by the ampitheater the path ended in an abrupt low pile of snow.  I imagine sometime in the last few days a plow driver said to himself "well, that's far enough.  I think I'll just stop here and go back."

Undeterred, I continued on through the knee-deep snow.  It was absolutely pristine...no footsteps, XC ski trails or anything that might make the going a tad easier.  Against my better judgement (again!) I turned right and went down to the duck pond.  It was about this point that I really began missing the red blood cells I dropped off yesterday.  I had gone from running to doing some sort of highstepping quick march.  It was like trying to run through the ball pit at Chucky Cheese, only colder and without small children that might provide some sort of traction (kidding!).  By the time I got to the 9/11 memorial I was cooked.  I somehow made it up the hill to the driving range and back onto the plowed road.  I continued on and had to make a few detours to avoid the snowed over areas.  The loop was still about a 5k.  I adjusted my route for the rest of my run, opting to stay on the plowed path even though I mostly ran in circles through ice and slush.

By the time I got back to the car, there were a group of beginning runners milling about, waiting for a training program to begin.  I wished them well, told them where it was sorta clear and silently wondered how many of them would hate running after today.  Hopefully they all managed ok!

115 miles down, 385 to go... 

6 More Miles and a Pint of Blood

With Thursday's snow behind me, I went back to Sunken Meadow to do a loop out to the golf course and up to the toll booth.  I set out hoping maybe the boardwalk was clear (ha!) and instead turned around and cut across the unplowed parking lot.  Snow was about up to my knees and as I was nearing the main road I was huffing and puffing pretty good.  I hit the snowplow pile along the road and immediately sank up to my waist.  I fell forward, landed in the road, rolled up onto my feet and kept on going.  It was truely graceful.

At lunchtime today, I dropped off a pint of blood at the donor center in Melville.  Actually ran into a fellow runner friend doing the same thing and we joked to see who could fill up a pint faster.  No idea who won as he was still waiting as I was leaving.  Not sure why I'm donating in the middle of marathon training, but he had a theory it makes your body recover stronger over the coming weeks.  Sure, why not...I'll go with that.

108 miles down, 392 to go...

Busy Day Ahead

Lots going on today between work, swim meets, and yeah, more snow.

I did manage to get out for a quick 4 miler down to Crab Meadow Beach and back.  I've mostly been avoiding the roads since shoulders are few and far between with all the snow piled up.  The run was a bit dicey on the main roads, but otherwise ok.  Most significant point of this run was it put me over my first 100 miles...later than I had hoped...but with enough days left in January that I hope I can make a dent in the next hundred.

102 miles down, 398 to go...

Oh Gee...More Snow...

What a surprise.  The snow was falling again this morning, with a forecast of anywhere from freezing rain to another foot and half of snow over the next 36 hours.

I toyed with the idea of heading back to Makamah Woods, but opted instead to return to Sunken Meadow, figuring Makamah would be just too big of a pain to run.  With more bad weather forecasted, I also wanted to get in a few extra miles, and Sunken Meadow offers plenty of options.

I parked in the main lot and set out along the boardwalk.  I was surprised to see a fair number of people out...I must have passed at least a dozen or so.  I headed east to the far parking lot, figuring I would do a loop around there and set off for the toll booth.  Just for kicks I decided to take the moat trail instead of the road.  "C'mon," I said.  "How bad can it be?"  It was pretty snowy, slippy and slidey, but I managed to survive.  I headed up the trail to the toll booth.  The path was finally cleared all the way to the top so a minimum amount of running in the road was required.  I came down the other side and turned at the bottom to set off for the golf course.

You know those cartoons where the character slips on ice (or a banana peel) and his arms and legs start flailing wildly?  Yeah, that was me as I made the turn.  The only think missing was the drum roll soundtrack.  Somehow I managed to keep my balance, but that still didn't deter the "you're an idiot for running on this" look from the walker passing from the other direction at the same time.

Made the loop around the golf course and came back to the park.  Headed up the hill to the tollbooth one more time and then back to the parking lot, skipping the moat trail this time.

I felt good.   Right hammie was tight from the PITA but I'm pretty much just dealing with that at this point.  But over all felt strong, with plenty of legs left to keep on going.

Headed to Chaminade early for a quick leg weight workout before James was done swimming.  All in all, a good day.

98 miles down, 402 to go...

Finally a Longer Run

Since today was Saturday, I woke up early to take James to swimming, then headed over to Eisenhower Park.  I figured there would be some way of navigating around the 5k loop there...even hoping that perhaps by some miracle the park workers felt obliged to plow the paths.  I planned on doing 4 loops, leaving me just enough time to get there and back from Chaminade.

Well, it could best be described as a mixed bag.  Some parts were clear, some parts were packed down, some were ice, and some were drifts of a foot or more.  The first loop took nearly half and hour, so I knew there was no way to get 4 done.  I ran three loops total, then a couple of extra laps around the first mile of it, part of which runs along the parking lot.

I stopped at the 1:45 minute mark, good enough for 11 or 12 miles.  While less than what I had hoped for in mileage for the day, a 1:45 minute run hit the spot for extending my effort level.

89 miles down, 411 to go...

Snow??? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Snow!

Well, actually I did take advantage of the snow.  But then it took advantage of me.

On Tuesday, I had one of those "hate this, but glad I did it workouts."  Instead of working against the snow, I decided to work with it.  Went to Sunken Meadow for a "Snow Duathlon".  I figured I would get a run in on my snow shoes before setting out on what was quickly becoming "yet another" loop out to the golf course.

A freezing rain was falling as I set out from the east parking lot through snow that could be best described as wet mashed potatoes.  By the time I had gone 200 yds, my lungs were burning, my thighs were barking and every step felt like I had a 10 pound weight attached to my foot.  Luckily, by the time I hit the moat trail, the snow was a bit more packed down and I was able to settle into a rhythm.  I did a loop into the picnic area, up Cardiac Hill and then took the longer back trail around to the picnic area and back along the moat trail again.  By the time I got back to my car - through 200 yards of mashed potatoes again - I felt as though I had run 10 miles.  Total time was 25 minutes.

I offloaded the snow shoes into the trunk of my car and set off for the golf course.  Talk about a difference!  Felt like I had shed my heavy snow boots for bedroom slippers.  Conditions were still miserable...by this time I was pretty soaked through.  But I finished the loop and hopped back into the warmth of my car.  I thought about taking a detour up to the tollbooth, but figured I would come back Wednesday and do repeats and try to keep from getting burned out on Sunken Meadow three weeks into training.

So Wednesday came and I headed back to Sunken Meadow to do those repeats.  I planned on doing 4 of them...that's about 6 miles in total, half up a steep climb.  It's another one of those "hate it/love it" workouts. Turns out, I'll do anything to get out of doing it, including inflicting $800 of damage to my car.  The Jetta started sliding on the ice on the little-used entrance ramp to SM, and my left wheels smacked against the curb.  I tried to drive it away, but it was a little like driving a bumper car.  You can turn the wheel and maybe the car would turn.  Or maybe it wouldn't.  My left front wheel was clearly out of alignment.  I called for a tow and spent the time waiting by doing a quick run down into Sunken Meadow and back up again.  By the time I got back, it was only another 5 minutes until the tow came, and Samantha, taking pity on me, met me with a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee.  Got a tow to the service station, got the front wheel fixed, only to learn there's damage to the rear  - "It's OK to drive if you don't mind the noise".  Yeah I mind it, need a new bearing.  Bit of a bust when it comes to running for the day too.

Today, without reliable transportation, I was forced to stay home.  The roads are still a bit dicey, not so much the surface, but the narrowness and ability to dodge oncoming traffic.  I figured I would go across the street into Makamah and see what the trail was like.  I figured it was probably trampled and hopefully runnable.

And it was.  Sure it was clunky and chunky and frozen into a morass of divots and wrinkles and ankle-twisting bumps and ridges.  But I was able to get around Ok and I was back in the woods where I am happiest.  I took the sidetrip out to Makamah Road, down to the beach and then back via Hayes Hill Rd.  Didn't pass a single car.   Back into the woods again for my return trip home.  Successfully avoided falling or twisting my ankle and very happy to have this option available to me.

Tonight's snow could have something to say about that though...here we go again!

78 miles down, 422 to go...

Whole lotta catch-up. And cross-training.

Turns out Wednesday's snow not only goofed up my running, but my posting too.

We got about 15" - 18" of snow last week, pretty much as expected.  I took Wednesday off to dig out my driveway and take the kids sledding for a bit late afternoon.  Working from home means no "snow days".  Oh well.

On Thursday, with the roads still a mess I pulled out the spin bike and began cross training.  Did a fairly intense 45 minutes, but seeing as it was my first time back in the saddle, so to speak, after several months, I figured I would ease back into it.

Friday found me back in Sunken Meadow for a fairly ridiculous 6 mile run.  The roads in the park were clear, but I was determined to run the boardwalk first.  I set out through the ankle to knee deep snow in the western parking lot in an attempt to get to the end of the boardwalk.  About half way across I gave up, and shot up an access ramp to the boardwalk, only to find myself in snow up to my thighs.  I eventually climbed out on to the boardwalk which varied from perfectly clear to two foot drifts.  Like I said, it was fairly ridiculous.  I eventually got to the end and proceeded from there to do a toll booth/golf course loop that was windy but routine.

Saturday was a day for enjoying the snow and some cross-country skiing cross-training.  I met Rick over at Caleb Smith park for a one hour skate through the park.  Conditions were great, the trail was in reasonably good shape, and if it wasn't so bloody cold that our fingers were falling off, we probably would have stayed out longer. Still incredibly enjoyable.

On Sunday, I headed back to Sunken Meadow, where I'm now concerned I'm getting burned out on Sunken Meadow quickly.  But with the roads still clogged with snow, I have little choice.  I mixed it up a bit by parking in the eastern parking lot, did another tollbooth/golf course loop and running the last mile back from the course in 5k pace.  Not too bad.  Felt a bit of life in my legs.

This morning was another spin morning since I need to be home.  Hopefully I'll get out this afternoon - figured I would check out the roads with a conservative four-miler down to Crab Meadow Beach.

Light miles these past few days, but good cross-training.  I'll be OK...

62 miles down, 438 to go