NE Running

Doug Freese said:

I cranked up my winter running group and 5 showed. The numbers grow after Xmas. What a wonderful
run - 10 hilly miles in 20 degrees, sun out, a light dusting of snow from the night before, a
little wind, great conversation and the final reward, breakfast.

Doug, that's a lovely image but clearly it's not *real* running if you're enjoying yourself
that much. ;-)

Now my morning run was real running. Left the house at 8:30 under gray skys, the tree tops waving
ominously. 2 miles down the road I reach the seashore and find that there's a howling wind coming in
off the sea carrying sand across my path. On the more exposed bits I'm carried along with the wind
and after another 5 miles I turn around *into* the wind and double back for home. Spot a mad
fisherman standing in the surf fishing (who no doubt thinks *I'm* mad) and fight my way home again
enjoying a facial scrub from the flying sand. (The phrase "gritting my teeth" seems aposite).

Definitely not a day for achieving negative splits. ;-)

Tim
--
Remove the obvious to reply by email.

Tim Downie said:

Doug, that's a lovely image but clearly it's not *real* running if you're enjoying yourself that
much. ;-)

We will both pay dearly for this day. 😉

Quoted message said:

Now my morning run was real running. Left the house at 8:30 under gray skys, the tree tops waving
ominously. 2 miles down the road I reach the seashore and find that there's a howling wind coming
in off the sea carrying sand across my path.

You got my attention now. I live in the mountains but I spend as much time as I can near the ocean.
My vacations include Maine and Cape Cod and find the ocean positive therapy. The sights, smells, the
sand, tides.......

Quoted message said:

Definitely not a day for achieving negative splits. ;-)

You did in a way - less skin on your face the second half. 🙂

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

Doug Freese (or is it freeze??) said:

I cranked up my winter running group and 5 showed. The numbers grow after Xmas. What a wonderful
run - 10 hilly miles in 20 degrees, sun out, a light dusting of snow from the night before, a
little wind, great conversation and the final reward, breakfast.

It baffles me when people stay inside in these conditions and run on treadmill. God will get you
for not enjoying days like this.

Here in LaLa land, I went to a local college track for my first run after my annual break. No shirt,
about 70 degrees outside. Only one other guy out there--apparently a college long jumper doing jump
approaches. Not a distance runner in sight....anywhere. This IS the time of year that us sprint
types (at least those of us doing our first peak for indoors) sort of take over the tracks for our
general prep phase, but this is ridiculous.

I'll bet, though, that if I stuck my head in my health club, I'd see more women on the treadmills--
remember, it's 70 degrees out there--than you had running.

uuuuuuuuuuugggghhhhh!

Lyndon "Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!" --US Olympic Track Coach Brooks Johnson

Doug Freese said:

I cranked up my winter running group and 5 showed. The numbers grow after Xmas. What a wonderful
run - 10 hilly miles in 20 degrees, sun out, a light dusting of snow from the night before, a
little wind, great conversation and the final reward, breakfast.

It baffles me when people stay inside in these conditions and run on treadmill. God will get you
for not enjoying days like this.

I'll have to confess to playing hookey from my indoor cross-training session around Thanksgiving
when we had all that glorious snow! 🙂 🙂 The night before, I had my fluids mixed, clothes laid out,
etc to get up at 5am and drive to next town (about 10+ miles) - past a couple trailheads.

Looked out the window about an hour before heading to bed and saw some of the most beautiful snow
coming down. Reset my alarm. Absolutely no way was I going to be indoors when there was all that
snow to play in 🙂 It was quite comfortable at about 20F, but then it chilled down to 0 + or - 5
degrees for a week or so which improved the quality of the next couple feet of snow that we had.
Nice dry, high quality snow - like we haven't seen in the flatlands for a looong time 🙂 🙂

It was kinda funny after that first snow - the first in about 1.5 years
- just about every car on the road had skis, snowmachines, or other snow-type play equipment on it.
People grinning from ear to ear 🙂 I was glad I had gotten out as early as I did to enjoy the
trackless stuff. I alternated skiing, snowshoeing, running days - so much for my schedule. Some
people who are just starting their 2nd winter here were amused at how happy and smiling people are
this year compared with the grumbling and groaning about warm temperatures and no snow last year.

It's too bad it was sorta old snow for the local triathlon today, although they had enough of a
dusting last night to slicken up the surfaces. But the city sanded the entire course - just don't
make triathlons like they used to 😉 It was about 15-20F and about 50 people of all ages racing,
including families - about 60% more than in past years. In contrast to your group which had
breakfast, some of our xt group hurried back to my town to volunteer 😉 [I was hoping to volunteer
on a street corner again so I could watch the bicyle mass start and then head over to my post to
watch the runners, but they needed pool timers, and they start the relay swimmers the same time as
the race start to reduce congestion in pool. Pools are hot and humid. I've done my penance for
whatever I did wrong sometime in life.]

At least we *had* snow this year in contrast to last year when it was too warm to have snow or ice
carvings. This weekend is the local Christmas celebration with parade (yes, even in 0F), fireworks,
etc. - kids watching Santa in 0-20F temperatures. 20F is maximum tolerable temperature this time of
year. Just enjoy 🙂

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

Dot wrote: Pools are hot and humid.

Quoted message said:

I've done my penance for whatever I did wrong sometime in life.]

but I should have added that they had some nice "thank yous" for volunteers - like gift certificates
for 1/2 hr massage at local chiropractic (don't think it's sports massage though). The race is
becoming a lot better supported than when I did it 2 yr ago.

Dot said:

Dot wrote: Pools are hot and humid.

Quoted message said:

I've done my penance for whatever I did wrong sometime in life.]

Anyone that has spent as many years in Alaska as you, snow and no snow, is fast track to heaven. if
you want to guarantee a heavenly final finish you will have to sell the chain of bordellos. 🙂

We are supposed to get 9-14 inches over the next few days. It's so much fun to run at 6 am in new
snow - just you, animal tracks and and the paper boy. Finish off with shoveling the driveway - the
closest to upper body work that I get.

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

Doug Freese said:

I cranked up my winter running group and 5 showed. The numbers grow after Xmas. What a wonderful
run - 10 hilly miles in 20 degrees, sun out, a light dusting of snow from the night before, a
little wind, great conversation and the final reward, breakfast.

It baffles me when people stay inside in these conditions and run on treadmill. God will get you
for not enjoying days like this.

Agreed. On friday it was clear with a full moon....8 degrees F (wind chill), perfect morning. Balmy
14 F for a hard hilly 6 miles yesterday. Finally had to get the tights out.

Doug Freese said:

Dot said:

Dot wrote: Pools are hot and humid.

Quoted message said:

I've done my penance for whatever I did wrong sometime in life.]

Anyone that has spent as many years in Alaska as you, snow and no snow, is fast track to heaven.

That came out wrong. I would have preferred to be out in the sun and fresh air - *not* in the hot,
humid pool. Being stuck inside and sweltering *was* the penance, esp. since we had just sweated our
way through 2 hr of xt.

if you want to guarantee a heavenly final

Quoted message said:

finish you will have to sell the chain of bordellos. 🙂

We are supposed to get 9-14 inches over the next few days.

Lucky you. We've got nothing but warm temperatures forecast for the next week (25-35F), maybe some
snow flurries and possible rain. Things get really slick when it does that. This is why I cut class
that xt workout
- our ideal conditions are gone so quickly - sometimes overnight.

It's so much

Quoted message said:

fun to run at 6 am in new snow - just you, animal tracks and and the paper boy.

Heh. I beat the animals a couple days 🙂 and paper boys aren't an issue on the trails. One skier
past me on the highway enroute to trailhead. I just took a different trail at one of the
intersections. When I went back the following week - after the 2+ ft, nobody had been on *my* trail
again yet - no animals, no skiers, no snowmachines. I'll admit I didn't go far on that one that day,
since snow was almost up to my knees, even with skis on - and I was more in the mood for aerobic,
rather than strength building, workout (after several days of breaking trail or shoveling snow) 🙂
So I took the main trail which had a good base by now. Most of my actual running had been on snow at
edge of roads when it was cold enough (near 0F) to have that crispy, crunchy firm footing.

Finish off with shoveling the driveway - the closest to

Quoted message said:

upper body work that I get.

Yep, I can relate to that.

Enjoy your new stuff 🙂

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

Doug Freese said:

I cranked up my winter running group and 5 showed. The numbers grow after Xmas. What a wonderful
run - 10 hilly miles in 20 degrees, sun out, a light dusting of snow from the night before, a
little wind, great conversation and the final reward, breakfast.

It baffles me when people stay inside in these conditions and run on treadmill. God will get you
for not enjoying days like this.

You da man, Doug! And I'm with you! -- Josh in Syracuse

Where in NE???

Doug Freese said:

I cranked up my winter running group and 5 showed. The numbers grow after Xmas. What a wonderful
run - 10 hilly miles in 20 degrees, sun out, a light dusting of snow from the night before, a
little wind, great conversation and the final reward, breakfast.

It baffles me when people stay inside in these conditions and run on treadmill. God will get you
for not enjoying days like this.

Brian B said:

Where in NE???

NY, near the first cpital of the state Kingston..

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

Doug Freese said:

Globaldisc said:

Anyway...do you equally enjoy this glorious "snow running" while it's snowing?...and I am not
talking "gentle snow-globe snowing"...I'm

talking

Quoted message said:

sheets of snow, head winds, the whole bit....

As long as I'm warm and not icy footing these conditions meet my requirements. My waxing is with
fresh snow sans wind and the ugly. I've been out in -15F wind blowing, long billed hat under my
wool hat pulled down low to cut the wind and a generous smear of vaseline all over my face. Not as
much fun but a challange anyway.

My biggest concern if I'm on trails with heavy, blowing snow is whether I can get my car out of
parking area and whether roads get drifted in. I always carefully pick where I park (no, it's not a
paved lot with yellow lines). Since I generally commute by bike to work (office in town, not lab),
I've probably biked in most weather conditions. Running is much easier. Freezing rain is something
that I avoid with bike or running though. Where I live, it generally has to be blowing more than 20
mph to be considered "windy" as opposed to a "breeze". I've run and biked in 40-50 mph winds, which
in winter occur about every 1-2 wks, more or less. Colorado had winds every day.

If I run from my house, I'll generally take advantage of weather to test gear so that I know what
works for me - and I don't have to worry about driving home.

But I can see where if a person is not comfortable outdoors and hasn't had to deal with an
assortment of conditions, where they may not be considered routine. It's a matter of education and
learning to adapt. I've always been comfortable outdoors under many conditions, but my first winter
up here was an adventure - and that was just getting to work 2 km away. (before I knew about light
weight oil, engine block heaters, sorels or bunny boots, etc) So I know I did little or no running
that year (besides I was finishing school work). And my first winter of more structured running was
a challenge trying to figure out how to keep my sports drink from freezing (and my hands/feet from
freezing in that tri). I've always run in winter, but more in the 20-30 min range (in cotton
sweats), not in the 40 min and longer range. I needed to learn about light weight synthetics instead
of the heavy wools I used in field work - and I'm still figuring out what works or not. I never
biked trails in winter until after I learned how to keep my feet warm in the tri 2 yrs ago. But that
was my level of inexperience at the time, and I've always been willing to learn from the more
experienced people. Reading the ongoing updates on the Iditarod Trail Invitational puts my little
runs into their miniscule, weeny weather perspective. Those runners are tough.

But, hey, this is my home, and I learned how to live here and enjoy it. The difference between a
cheechako and sourdough 😉 And I also know my present limits / comfort zone for weather conditions
and respect them.

Quoted message said:

It's looking so nice now with a few inches of new snow I may go out for another run tonight.

I'm jealous. We just have old stuff still 🙂

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

Doug Freese <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<HfrDb.423985

Quoted message said:

NY, near the first cpital of the state Kingston..

The "Gay capitol" of NY.