Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Ice Storm


I ran an easy 6 this morning on the treadmill. Have I mentioned I hate the treadmill? It was really the only option. The sidewalks and streets were covered in ice and I dare not run there. I ran 7:40 pace for 5 miles before dipping down to 6:30 pace for that last mile. I just wanted to get it done. I hate the treadmill. It is so lame. I saw one guy reading a magazine while on his treadmill, but he was walking. I thought about reading my book next time…has anyone ever tried this?

Per the ice storm, I decided to work from home today. I watched the weather forecast and waited for the mercury to rise above freezing…which it was scheduled to do late in the afternoon. It began to rain and as soon as it stopped I headed out the door for a second run at “the Line” in Rock Creek Park. The sidewalks were still slick with ice and I opted for snowy trails over icy sidewalks. Running trails in the snow is always tough going, but it is fun. You basically throw off your watch and just slug through it. After a half mile my feet were soaked. The trail resembled a frozen lemonade; not quite water, not quite snow and not quite ice…but rather a mix of the three. It was all wet. I had to cross a few creeks and, in turn, got soaked. I ran for 70 minutes in what I hope was 9 miles. Good practice for USATF XC.

Two years ago an ice storm would have been a pass to take the day off. Not anymore. Today I ran twice.

4 comments:

Matias said...

Being on the road lots has forced me to become friends with the treadmill. I once did a 84 minute run on a treadmill in Syracuse, the farthest I will ever go on one of those. And to think Wardian ran a sub 2:30 on one of those.

Heartrate monitor while on the treadmill is pretty neat. When I'm on it, I set the incline to 5-6% and work the heck out of my calves. Now there's a workout. Because when you're going 6:30 pace on a treadmill you look like a maniac and the belt is going a million miles and hour and people are walking by thinking "hey check out this show off"

Set it to a high incline, we don't get enough sustained hills around here and they make you killer strong.

...but hopefully you won't have to run on one for the rest of the year.

Peter said...

Matias, have you ever tried Jack Daniels hill repeats on the Treadmill? You run for 30 or 60 second repeats up a 10-12%grade at 7-8.5 mph and it approximates a 400m repeat.

Chika Gujarathi said...

Jake, I do a lot of my school reading on the treadmill. It's hard to go faster than 3.4-3.6. After sitting at work for 8 hours and then another 3 hours in a class room, this seems like a good option for me.

Matias said...

Towpath - Every other day, how do you think I got these mutant calves?

No really sounds intense. There's a quick way to shoot the heartrate up.