I did a bit of quick maths in the weekend, and realised that I’ve run, on average, over 5kms (3 miles) per day for every day so far this year...that’s over 27 hours of running. And as Dan pointed out when I was talking to him about this, we’re also at the point that we’re now running well over a marathon a week in distance. And there’s still over eight weeks to go!!
I think this must be the first winter that I’ve consistently and regularly run through, and it’s certainly been a challenging one, especially with the freezing temperatures and impressive snow fall. I also remember one weekend a few weeks back a friend pointed out that Saturday was meant to me a MUCH nicer day than Sunday as torrential rain was forecast, and perhaps I ought to consider doing my long run on the Saturday instead of the Sunday.
I decided that despite the forecast, I would persevere with the long run on Sunday. Apart from the fact that I really enjoy the Sunday run with the Serpies (http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/training_run_sun.html), I also commented that we’ve got no idea what the weather is going to throw at us on marathon day and besides, you can only get wet once. And get wet I did! It poured down. But despite my shoes and GPS watch filling with water (the watch has since dried out and still seems to be working fine!), it didn’t affect my run much at all...and it meant I appreciated the warmth of the Pembroke Lodge much more when I’d finished.
So, what affect has the weather had on all our training? I know I certainly took a few days “R&R” when we had the massive snow fall, as my track session and the Wednesday club run were cancelled, and I’m not a member of a gym so there was no treadmill for me to pound.
I remember my coldest run day too. It was the morning after the Bibendum Christmas party (which I’d been ridiculously sensible at to ensure I’d get out for my run the next day). I was up and out the door around 8:30am, and my planned route for the day was four miles along the canal, and BOY WAS IT COLD! The ice on the canal was impressively thick – over an inch in places. The geese looked a bit bemused to be walking where they’d usually paddle! The most unusual thing that happened though was that I had little icicles on the tips of all my eyelashes which had frozen there from the condensation off my breath!
Kate:
The snowy weather gave me a nice excuse for a few rest days in a row but the guilt kicked in after day two and I did venture out albeit tentatively, I felt a bit like Rocky running in the snow! In general the weather doesn’t bother me too much, I like it when it’s really cold as I get so hot running, but heavy rain is a complete pain as my super expensive trainers seem to have been designed to let in water, so my feet need to be wrung out afterwards!
Amy:
Obviously the bad weather affected me the same as everyone else (although I just went to the gym instead) but one weekend I went home to Scotland just after they had a snow fall. It was the most gorgeous day so I decided to brave it and go for a run. The snow wasn’t too much of a problem by then, but it was so pretty I kept stopping to take photos with my phone (was what I was using to listen to the radio in the early days). So I was “outside with joy in my heart” full of nature appreciation and positive outlooks but wasn’t really ‘bounding’ as kept running to a halt to marvel at the scenery!
Dan:
Come rain or shine I will be out there pounding the tarmac clocking up the miles. As Gemma says you never know what race day will throw at you so you might as well get used to it. But sadly I had to shelter in the gym for 2 days when the snow came as there was just too much where I live. I tend to run in the same clothes whatever the weather but maybe swap into short sleeves if it’s warm. I can’t really tell at the minute anyway as we haven’t had any warm weather.
No comments:
Post a Comment