Sunday, 2/8/2015 to Saturday, 2/14/2015 - Freezeroo #5

I ran 4 times this week, 24.36 miles.

Sunday, 2/8/2015: 5.3 miles, 47:24, 8:56 pace, 19F, 93% RH, 13 mph NE wind, wind chill 6F, overcast, light snow.

Well ... I could give details of a tiff between my darling wife, Christine, and I had but I won't. Suffice to say that the laundry really needed to get done. I got 6 loads done which took all day (9:30AM to 5:30PM). In between all that Christine and I kissed and made up plus I got a run in .. so it was a win, win!

Garmin Connect Activity for A nice and easy out and back 5.3 miles

I could finally walk without an ache in my ankles so I really needed to run. I knew that each dryer load took 50 minutes so I got a run in. I headed out and decided to keep it nice and easy plus stick to the main streets so I wouldn't get into the mushy side streets. It was snowing just a bit. Mission accomplished ... plus I was in a better mood than I was when I left. It is true that I get a bit cranky if I don't run for 4 days.

Monday, 2/9/2015: snow equals rest day

At least 6 inches of fluffy snow fell during the day. Then there was a train stuck across 104 on the west side of Rochester ... on I live on the east side. So there was a big traffic snarl ... I crawled south, then east, then north to get around it ... which took a while.

Tuesday, 2/10/2015: 10 miles, 1:26:20, 8:38 pace, 21F, 78% RH, 6 mph NE wind, wind chill 14F, overcast, real light snow

Yes, pizza was in the oven when I got home. But I needed to run so run I did.

Garmin Connect Activity for A gorgeous 10 miles

I got dressed, had a bit of an energy bar and got out there. It was absolutely gorgeous! The main streets were mainly clear and the side streets were just a bit slushy. I just took it easy and let the run happen on my usual 10K route. I stretched it to 15K and then added a little more to get to a nice even 10 mile. My splits were: 8:39, 8:30, 8:38, 8:25, 8:43, 8:26, 8:52, 9:00, 8:41 and 8:26. Sweet!

And yes, the pizza was warmed up and all was good!

Wednesday, 2/11/2015: Rest day ... yada, yada, yada.

Thursday, 2/12/2015: 8 miles, 1:09:28, 8:41 pace, 9F, 66% RH, 15 mph WNW wind, wind chill -8F, overcast, light snow.

The cold is in Rochester with a vengeance. So, it was cold and windy ... but I run and I'm a bit crazy so I went out to run anyway. I wore my CW-X tights, Brooks pants, Darn Tough sock and blue Salomon Speedcross 3 trail shoes on the bottom. I wore a black ls tech, heavy Sugoi ls tech and my 1/4 zip Sugoi ls tech pullover for the top along with a full balaclava, Beanie, face shield and headlamp. I was warm enough to pull down the face shield and hike up my sleeves a bit. It was light when I started but dark when I finished. I thought about going for a full 10 but cut it short to 8 when I was running into the wind and snow on the way back. I took it easy. The main streets were a bit snow covered and slushy, the side streets were snow covered and the sidewalks were worse. The traffic was moving slower and avoided me ... thankfully. My splits were: 8:12, 8:53, 8:29, 8:35, 9:30 (sidewalk on Cooper Rd and Titus Ave), 8:57, 8:34 and 8:17. An OK run. I wasn't really chilled to bone because I dressed well.

Friday, 2/13/2015: Rest day and the day before a race.

It was 0F when I went to work and "warmed up" to 10F by the time I went home. Tonight was a rest night, plus I took my darling wife, Christine, to get her nails done at New Nails while I shopped for groceries at nearby Wegmans.

Saturday, 2/14/2015: 2 runs of 1 and Freezeroo #5 of 8.06 miles, 21F, 79% RH, 14 mph SSW wind, wind chill 8F, light snow with large flakes

It was a Freezeroo kind of Saturday morning so I was up around 7AM. The race venue for Freezeroo #5 was the Greece DPW on Long Pond Rd. This was my 4th Freezeroo #5. I broke 1 hour last year with a 59:28.

It had warmed up during the night so it could have a colder Freezeroo #5 ... 21F, come on! So ... I got up, had my usual pre-race bowl of cereal, got dressed, kissed my wife good-bye and headed out. I had on my usual: CW-X tights with GRTC shorts, heavy Sugoi long sleeve tech, 1/4 zip Brook long sleeve pullover, full balaclava, Brooks beanie and skiing mittens. I got there a full hour early so I had plenty of time to get my bib, timing chip and warmup with a nice and easy 1 mile warmup run, link here. I changed into my blue Salomon Speedcross 3 trail shoes for added traction before the race (and was glad I did).

Just milling around before the start

The weather conditions were interesting ... 21F, windy with large snow flakes. But it's a race ... so off we went!

Go!!

Soon we were obscured by the snow

The road conditions on Long Pond were a bit slippery with about an inch of snow on the road. I started out too fast with a 7:12 first mile. I could see bare pavement as we turned right onto Janes Rd for 1.5 miles. Then a left onto Island Cottage Rd for just over a mile. I started to tire and stopped for a tiny walk just after the turn. The pavement disappeared as we ran in about an inch of new snow in the footsteps of previous runners.

Running on Edgemere Drive

Then another left onto Edgemere Drive for just over another mile. Lake Ontario was just across the road. I took another tiny walk break. The wind wasn't too bad. It could have been a lot worse.

Turning the corner into the finish chute

The final left turn was back onto Long Pond Rd at mile 5 on the right hand side of the road for the last 3 miles (another couple of tiny walk breaks). The road going south was worse. The only clear path was on the white line or farther to the left in the road. I was running in the footsteps of other runners except for an occasional pass. Traffic went by sometimes a bit too close for comfort. I was tired but kept going. The last mile seemed to last forever.

It was Valentine's Day after all!

And .. done with 8.06 miles (by my Garmin) in 1:01:56, 7:45 pace. I had thought that I could break a hour but I was glad to be done. I went straight to the Equinox and changed into some dry clothes above my waist. I headed inside for a bit of food: a cupcake, a half bagel with peanut butter and jelly, a cup of soup and some water. I did OK, 30th out of 134, link here. I was 5th out of 10 in my M55-59 age group. My splits were: 7:12, 7:14, 7;23, 7:27, 7:53, 8:20, 8:08. 7:58 and 7:34 over the final 0.06 mile.

I headed home. I stripped when I got in the door, put on some warm clothes and soon had a mug of hot coffee. My darling wife, Christine, and I vegged the rest of the day.