I slept in really late this morning so I wasn’t sure I was even going to have time to run but I needed to do something so I managed to get out. And surprisingly once I got going I had motivation to keep going to try to make up some of the miles missed due to the deep cold last weekend killing my long run on Sunday.
Weather was pretty good today – hovering near freezing when I got finished – there was some wind however that really wasn’t a factor until near the end. I spent many of the miles today in a sheltered area and when I came out of it I was sweaty – the wind became a factor pretty fast there – luckily I only had a few miles in the open area before I got into shelter again because even in that short period of time I could feel my hands starting to freeze up pretty good. It was all good in the end but it came as a heck of a surprise when it hit me for the first time.
Other than that the run was slowed quite a lot by areas that were slippery and uneven (the warming temperatures meant a bit of melting and snow that was hard packed was now loose and shifted under foot at unexpected times. There was also a minor amount of slush here and there adding wet feet to the fun mix.
At least those kinds of footing conditions help strengthen the legs and stabilizers – they also make sure I do the long slow runs as a long slow run. Can’t try to sprint ever run!
Heading now into the last 2 weeks of hard training for the Dopey Challenge in January – I have another 18 miler and a 20 scheduled in those 2 weeks which is highly ambitious but we will see what happens – will need to monitor myself closely and back off to prevent any injuries. The current outdoor running conditions will be very unforgiving if I get sloppy on my form and I want to make sure I avoid any injuries. At this point I am ready for Dopey so staying healthy is my most important goal.
OK – time to keep pushing!
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