The wind was howling and there was more snow on the ground at Riley's Lock than there was in Bethesda or DC. The frigid wind off the canal sculpted grotesque frozen footprints in the ice and snow making the towpath treacherous at times...but we prevailed. Six of us trudged north facing the wind head on. No one said much. It took me about 25 minutes to get my first feeling of warmth. We then curved down Sycamore Landing Rd and looped onto River where the wind was at our back. I felt good despite some minor knee pain and a knot in my upper leg (foam roller get busy). I got in 18. These 2+ hour runs are getting easier.
On Saturday I ran from the Georgetown Store. After 45 minutes with the group Karl and I decided to run 2-3 miles "on". We didn't really have a plan when we started, but in the end we figured we ran 5:20 pace for about 15 minutes. My knee acted up near the end so I decided to shut it down before bad things happened. We got in 10.
Friday, New Year's Day, was a hungover 10 miles from The Line with a dozen other GRCers. How cliche to be hungover on New Year's.
I ran 12 from The Line on Thursday with Karl and Mike Smith. I kept it easy and let those other two guys go when they decided to start their tempo late in the run.
Despite the cold (high 20s), I had a great workout on Wednesday night. The goal was to run 3 x 1600m cut down from 5:05 to 4:50. I ended up hitting 5:00, 4:52 and then 4:38. Each was an even split. I don't think I've ever run a 4:3-anything in practice before, especially in sub-par workout weather.
I am in much better shape than I thought I'd be right now. 86 miles last week.
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