Mon-PM: 18 mi (2:46) // Fort Snelling
Bridge Which Must Not Be Named (2x), Intercity (1x), Fort Rd. (1x)
The usual Monday journey down to the Fort Snelling Visitor Center and back (1 granola bar), but tweaked the outbound route to cross over a couple bridges (Intercity & Fort Road) and to inject some variety too. The new stretch from the Intercity south down to Fort Road is a pleasant mix of peaceful "windy-ness" with a hill or two too. Kind of a gray winter day (+32F), but the white of fresh snow always helps . . .
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| "Trail not closed, do enter" . . . isn't that what you see? |
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| Who is spying who? |
01-29-13
Tue-PM: 7 mi (1:06) // Greenway
Bridge Which Must Not Be Named (2x), Sabo (2x)
Easy, recovery run to the river.
01-30-13
Wed-AM: 11 mi (1:34) // Lake of the Isles
Early morning loops (x4) after dropping Ashley off at school. A nice change of scenery from the recent river runs. Forget the GPS watch at home, so stuck to lapping Lake of the Isles.
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| Longing for summer . . . |
01-31-13
Thu: 0
Rest.
02-01-13
Fri-PM: 9 mi (1:19) // Upper Mississippi Loop
Bridge Which Must Not Be Named (2x), Franklin St. (1x), Lake St. (1x)
Happy to have made it through a month of winter running! It's definitely not over yet though . . . -2F on the thermostat this afternoon. If the colds continue (sub-zero), I may be forced into searching out new gloves. It's bitter out there.
02-02-13
Sat-AM: 9 mi (1:08) // Upper + Lower Mississippi Loop
Intercity (1x), Franklin Ave. (1x)
1 mile warm-up, 7 mile tempo (7:12 avg; splits: 7:21, 6:57, 7:43, 7:15, 7:19, 6:57, 6:55; no gels), 1 mile cool-down. Beautiful whiteness out there with ~3 fresh inches of snow in the last 12 hours or so, but the footing made moving much faster difficult. Came to a complete stop at points because of ice. Falling and breaking things is probably the ever-present winter fear. The add'l layer for the chills (+2F) also completed the "winterization" of this tempo attempt. If you've never run on snow before, I think I would say it's similar to running on sand at the beach -- only a bit "slippier" and minus the warmth and salty aromas.
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| A full rainbow? Never seen one of these before . . . |
02-03-13
Sun-PM: 7 mi (1:07) // Greenway
Bridge Which Must Not Be Named (2x), Sabo (2x)
Easy out and back to the Mississippi River. Really missing the warm days of summer right about now . . .
Totals: 61.0 mi (8:59, 18 bridges)
2 comments:
Important question: How do your granola bars and gels not freeze? I would assume they are like popsicles by the time they are utilized.
Good question.
The gels, while never technically frozen, do get pretty close once the temperatures drop to single digits and below. Feels like you're squeezing some type of sludge into your mouth. I'm sure I could figure out a way to stash them closer to my skin to keep them heated, but haven't considered it yet.
This week was actually a test run for the granola bars. I think they're going work much better simply because they don't really have any liquids that can freeze. There's a little stiff on the first bite (gotta use them back tooths), but certainly an improvement over the gels. I'll probably stick to the granola bars (especially with the new Costco membership!) until the temperatures warm a bit in late March/April.
The main reason to use the gels in training is to get a feel for how your body responds before it matters. I'm hoping it'll be much warmer on race-day than the recent temps of winter training.
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