Training Log Archive: Bags

Getting to the stage of cars glazing over intersections, melting and refreezing but still doable today. Hopefully things will be ok tomorrow...hitting close to 40 today and bright sunshine. We seemed to have went a month of grey overcast days until it got super cold.

Too tired to 'warm up' and at the beginning I was not sure if I could do 7 or not. Stopped couple of minutes and talked to my Belgium triathlete neighbor up the street...he agreed the sidewalks were not runable. I saw trails had been made in them but a test of them at the Y this morning revealed frozen footprints that would make things MORE difficult so I accepted I had to do the loop de sloop loop n geography shaped mini-routes to get my miles in.

These cold runs on packed snow are draining me like 12 milers or even longer. Evening: 25 minutes of some of my warm up/warm down drills: 30 PU 15/15; floor core, reduced reps including 28 SU; no free weights; arm and leg bands and standing leg stuff and lite stretching.

30 min warm up of everything but even less today. 66 PU 1 x 16/16 (full/knee) and 1 x 17/17. Foam roller. Floor core with 20 SU. Almost no stretching to be same about right calf. Standing leg stuff. Arm and leg bands. Free weights. Basically I just picked each weight up and that was the exercise...I did some reps but just enough to work the muscles not many at all.

Good footing grip today, not perfect but good enough. I ventured into some snow and it really was too much for me...it averaged a foot deep, it was not continuous but about 200 total yards...a few times I got some momentum going and was able to 'hop run'. With half mile to go my left hamstring tightened slightly. I stopped and walked around for about a minute and litely stretched and trotted in. It seems fine.

My right calf and left hamstring seem to have a permanent little knot or tightness that may go away 95% or more but they raise their ugly heads to remind me of my Geezer status.

Afternoon 5+ minutes of a little floor core and 20 PU 10/10 Full/Knee. Hit 37 today but it has dropped to 22. No word on installation of motor and space heater did not arrive a day early after all.

As I hoped the one good thing about super cold temps was that it froze the roads in a good way so that there was good traction today...until the last two miles. It was warming up and starting to melt and I was getting a little slippage and sideways sliding but nothing even close to yesterday...plus it was just for two miles.

Once again I just ran around in all kinds of geometric shapes trying to get in as much mileage as possible. Not nearly as tired today running further and faster but still was pooped by the end.

Energy was low so the warm up reps were greatly reduced in just about everything. Luckily once I got out in the bright sun I felt energized (it pays the have a little Kryptonian blood...but unfortunately I can't fly or pick up a car.

30 minute warm up: PU's 60. 30 full and 30 knee style 3 x 10/10 sets. Foam roller. Floor core including 28 SU's. Leg and arm bands. Free weights (very few reps just enough to pick up the weights and barely work my shoulders, arms and back), standing leg stuff and lite stretching.

3 places where street was slushy because broken pipe in home had run out into the street. 2021 is trying to out Doomsday 2020...at least so far.

Slight touch of tendonitis in right calf (or whatever you want to call it) from all the snow running no doubt. As of now no big deal wearing calf sleeves all day to support it, initiate sweat-out and also icing. I would be lost without the daily niggle, as they say. Keeps me on my toes and lets me know I'm alive (positive spin).

Afternoon: 5-10 more minutes of shoveling the driveway. Been awhile since I had to shovel so even that little bit of shoveling is a mini-workout. Geezerville.

16 degrees...was -6 when I finished yesterday. Wore a layer or two less. 45 minutes of warm up of everything. 90 PU 45 full and 45 knee 3 x 15/15 sets. Foam roller. Free weights for arms (not a lot of reps or weights but enough to supplement the PU's to try to 'power up' different muscles). Arm and leg bands. Floor core including 40 SU's. Everything (except PU) I work all directions. Lite stretching and standing kicks/swirls stuff.

About the same amount of snow again. 4 to 5 more inches. I think this stuff would have been 'grippy' like the first layer except the top layer slipped on the bottom layer. Factoring in the extra distance slipping caused I'm pretty sure I ran 114 miles today. I really hate the sideways slips the worse...when the ole foot slides way out I feel like Olympic speed skater.

Like yesterday I just ran around and around in the neighborhood constantly thinking of where to run and how much I had added onto the 'normal' out and back route of 2.7 miles I was on. I do not have GPS watch so I had to use my judgments sometimes but there are so many markers for .5 and .1 miles that by using those and coordinating with watch I'm pretty sure the 114 miles is within .0001 inch of being accurate.

Seriously this tired me out more than my 12 milers.

Afternoon: 25 minutes of snow shoveling. It's going to melt in a few days so I just dug trails for the tires and cleared the sidewalk up to the front porch.

Life is crazy and seems to kick you when your are down sometimes...at the same time there is always someone who has it worse or your own situation becomes worse. Heat still out. No space heaters left in town. Doc Koski gave me an excellent suggestion yesterday. Heat water on stove. That helped keep the temp in the mid 50's inside. Then at 7:30 or so this morning the power went out. It was just getting light so you could see inside thanks to skylights. I decided to go running.

No warm up...it was too cold to warm up anyway. I bundled up again even more and the traction was great again today. Even when it looked slick there was traction. No wind. -12 but it was doable. By the time I got outside it was sunny. I ran 5, checked into the house...no calls...power back on...but unlike in past our dead heater was still no good...ate banana and went out to do three. Did 4.75. With 15 layers on that was not a bad workout.

We lost about 5 degrees and have got one or two back...it's 51 in the house right now. I'm thinking 2021 so far seems to be identical twin to 2020. But look how many years the depression was and it only ended when there was the biggest war of all time. Wow! From 1929 to 1945 pretty rough stretch for a lot of people around the world!!

Just checked. Right now we are colder than Duluth by 3 degrees, BUT it is actually going to keep warming up until 1 or 2 in the morning to about 17 degrees!!!! More snow coming. AC company just arrived! Motor out. Has to be ordered and may be at least Thursday or Friday before motor comes in and can be installed. It is about 25 degrees warmer now than this morning. Several more inches of snow.

Evening: 45 minutes. Everything, but less reps. Free weights for arms; 80 PU 13/13 x 2 and 14/14 for 40 full and 40 knee PU. Foam roller. Floor core including 40 SU; standing leg stuff; lite stretching, arm and leg bands.

Heat and Air still pending. Ran around town (drove actually) trying to find space heater but I was 3 days too late. Have one on the way from Amazon but the weather is slowing them too and it may be Friday. All that interfered with my 'schedule' and drained away energy.

40 minute warm up. Everything: Push ups: 80 2 x 13/13 and 1 x 14/14 full/knee styles in 3 sets. Leg and arm bands. Floor core with 32 sit ups included, standing leg stuff, foam roller, free weights, lite stretching.

Ran on road 1.2 miles then .3 to the turn around...the neighborhood street had packed snow with great traction but once off the street had to deal with snow...anywhere from dusting of grass and sidewalk to 6 to 8 inch's deep in a few places...most of it was about 5 inches I guess and it was too much for me...struggled and felt kinda helpless and weak. It was 3 degrees and sunny. 15 below WC.

When I got home and entered through the garage I noticed a haze in the air and the light bulbs looks pinkish red. When I went inside same thing. Never had that happen before. I was almost snow blind from the sun bouncing off the snow but I have run in those conditions many times never any 'red glare'.

Unusual occurrence this morning. A rainblow. You could not see the top but you could see each end. IN fact the first part I saw was the left side and it looked like a straight up and down rainbow but then I saw the right side further over...top part cut off by clouds I guess.

No warm up. Not as much snow as they said...at least so far. About 2-3 inches. Dry powdery snow with good traction. Wind straight out of north. That was good. I could run E-W and both ways it really was not that bad. I began with idea if footing was good to try for 12...it was fine...at first. After couple of miles with only about 1/3 of a mile into wind I felt 12 was doable. At 4M I was down to trying for 8 to 10 miles and still had not run any more into the wind. Turned at 4.5 into the wind just to get it over with and see what happened.

It beat the $R@!$*^ out of me is what happened. The little 3 inch drifts started tripping me because I could not pick up my feet enough. The traction was always good. My left thigh/hip tightened up a little. Not injured or anything like that just the cold creeping through. At 5 miles I decided to run in for a 6 miler. Last half mile was back to side wind as I headed east and I actually began to feel better but I saw no point to do more by then.

My mask froze below the chin again today. And the wind was stronger although the only time it gave me any problems was from 4.5 to 5.5 when I ran straight into it. For a geezer I'll take this.

Says 5 degrees on AP, and 15 below. 20mph wind. That explains it. I believe that is about 6 to 8 mph more than they had predicted but there are so many forecasts it's hard to remember. And you can look at 3 or 4 places and they all have variations...ironically sometimes they are the Weather Channel disagreeing with itself.

Duluth has had a rough stretch! 40 below WC a lot. Well below zero actual temperatures. Lots of treadmill work going on up there. I don't know how at 15 year old Okie-blood running nerd ran through that winter of 71-72. Jeez just realized I was counting the Jan-Feb running in my mind as 1971 when it was 72. Geezeritis.