Sunday, 2/14/2016 to Saturday, 2/20/2016

I ran 4 times this week, 31.55 miles

Sunday, 2/14/2016: Rest day?

I don't know how to describe it. Yes, it was still cold (around 7F) but warmer than when I ran the day before (-4F) and the wind was down. But ... I couldn't make it out the door. Maybe my body just needed a break.

Monday, 2/15/2016: 10.35 miles, 1:34:27, 9:07 pace, 27F, 63% RH, 9 mph S wind, wind chill 18F, overcast.

Garmin Connect Activity for A bit of trail and mostly road

There was a winter storm advisory from 7 PM Monday night to 7 PM Tuesday night with 10-18 inches forecast on the west side of Rochester so I definitely wanted to get out tonight rather than on Tuesday night. I needed to get out and run so I didn't even sit down before I got dressed and got out there. My lovely wife, Christine, had asked me to get a few groceries but I begged off and suggested that she go out and get them.

I headed over to the Lake Ontario Parkway Trail for 2.7 miles to see how it was. It had about 2 to 3 inches of snow on it. It did give my ankles a workout. I tired of it by the time I got to Dewey Ave. I overdressed by putting on a long sleeve tech, Brooks 1/4 zip long sleeve pullover and Brooks jacket. I unzipped my jacket the rest of the way and also had my mittens off for a while. I wanted to just do 15K but miscalculated my turnaround and ended up doing 10.3 miles. What's another mile? My splits were: 9:42, 10:16, 9:38, 8:52, 8:26, 8:48, 8:20, 8:29, 9:02, 8:54 and 9:14 over the last 0.35 mile. I was a bit tired when I got done. I was really glad that Christine had tacos ready right away ... I was famished!

Tuesday, 2/16/2016: Snow day

The forecast for the day was for 14-20 inches of snow, a prediction of 10-16 inches here. There was about 3 inches on the Equinox when I left for work early at 7:06 AM. The drive on the Parkway and down 390S was slow but not bad. I got to B601. This is the closest Harris building that I manage the network printers at. I hunkered down here while it snowed and snowed. I read some news reports that 490 was shut down in both directions from 390 on the west to 590 on the east due to jack-knifed tractor trailers, link here. News links: here, here, here, here and here.

I came out at 5:30 PM to find about 8 inches of snow on the Equinox. The roads were clear all the way home.

But ... the Cruze was buried with about 10 feet of foot deep snow behind it

And ... a foot of snow on it

18.3 inches of snow in one day ... yeah, baby!

First ... I had to find a shovel to dig out the Cruze. I hadn't needed a snow shovel since I moved up to Rochester in November 2008 so ... I couldn't find one. Luckily, Christine had bought a regular shovel to dig up the ground around the front door of our townhouse so ... I used what I had and made do. I think I will go out and buy a snow shovel ... when they go on sale next week. Spring is coming you know!

Wednesday, 2/17/2016: 1.7 miles, 53:12, 31:18, 28F, 69% RH, 8 mph WNW wind, wind chill 20F, partly cloudy.

Garmin Connect Activity for A snowshoe walk around the RR cars

Thursday, 2/18/2016: 9.3 miles, 1:18:13, 8:24 pace, 19F, 53% RH, 3 mph SSE wind, clear

Garmin Connect Activity for A crisp 15K

It was Thursday and I run on Thursdays so ... I got home, had a small bowl of cereal, got dressed and got out there. It was a bit crisp so I put on a heavy long sleeve tech under my usual Brooks 1/4 zip long sleeve tech but still the usual CW-X tights, balaclava, Brooks beanie, reflective vest, headlamp and ski mittens. I struck up the usual slow pace to Greenleaf Rd and then hiked it up a bit. I found that the shoulder was pretty narrow with no sidewalks plowed on Beach Ave and down Edgemere Drive to Dewey Ave. Luckily there wasn't much traffic coming my way on this mile so I ran a bit fast. I thought about continuing down Edgemere Drive on my 8.2 mile route but kept straight on Island Cottage Rd for my 15K route. I did avoid the Edgemere Drive stretch by heading down Beach Ave. It was a nice run ... crisp, clear, calm and moonlit. My splits were: 8:14, 8:18, 8:10, 8:16, 8:40, 8:10, 8:12, 8:27, 8:38 and 8:26 over the last 0.3 mile. My darling wife, Christine, was making BLTs when I got home ... priceless!

Meanwhile, Boots and Sean attempted to run Sehgahunda ... in the winter ... in snowshoes! Here is what happened, link here. They got from Dam to CP1 in 3.5 hours in ankle to mid thigh deep snow and decided that today was not the day. Some people would say why ... they said why not!

Friday, 2/19/2016: Rest day ... nothing to see, moving on!

Saturday, 2/20/2016: 12.2 miles, 1:43:04, 8:27 pace, 46F, 53% RH, 18 mph W wind, wind chill 39F, sunny.

Garmin Connect Activity for A windy run out to East Manitou Rd

I was up around 6:30 AM and got out relatively early for me ... around 8:30 AM. A big warmup for the weekend was forecast. It came with a lot of wind. I got out and was greeted with a stiff and gusty wind out of the west. I struck up a nice and easy pace and headed out on Edgemere Drive. The sidewalk wasn't plowed between Beach Ave and Dewey Ave so I had to run in the road or on the barely plowed shoulder for this 1 mile stretch. I hiked it up but there weren't too many car out yet. I conteplated doing my half route but just went all the way out to East Manitou Rd and turned around to head back. I tried the side street that paralleled Edgemere Drive but it was slushy and had standing water. I headed back onto Edgemere Drive. Heading downwind was much easier. My splits were: 8:18, 8:12, 8:18, 8:24, 8:19, 8:36, 8:07, 8:39, 8:08, 8:17, 8:10, 9:06 and 8:35 over the last 0.2 mile. I had water and Gu but I didn't take any on the run and paid for it during the last mile. A couple of mugs of coffee and a bagel soon ensued.

Later, my darling wife, Christine, and I made it out to Fleet Feet Ridgeway for her weekly Tons of Fun weigh in. She had lost another pound ... Yay! That's 18 so far over the last year. I am trying to help her ... I bought her a digital food scale of of Choxi.com (with free shipping).

We did a bit of celebrating at The Distillery (thanks to a coupon in SaveAround, link here) on W Ridge Rd. We both had the Turkey Avacado Bacon Melt ... mmm! Luckily, we didn't choose the nearby Olive Garden which had fire trucks outside and people milling around due to a CO leak. The also went to Best Buy and bought a Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer on sale. It was on sale online but not in the store so I bought it online and picked it up at the store that I was already in ... which took 45 minutes while we milled around. We noticed that the warm temperature melted a lot of the snow from Tuesday's snowstorm.

There is a very complete (as always) Withings WS-50 review at the DCRainmaker, link here. My impression ... once I hooked it up to our phones and WiFi is favorable. But ... you have to give it an accurate idea of your weight before it will automatically recognize you. If you say that you weigh 175 and it weighs you as 168 it will not recognize you and think you are a different person in the household. I also signed up for MyFitnessPal. I am not trying to lose weight but keep fit ... now if I could just convince myself to go to the gym and work out my uppper body and core. Stop me if I have typed this before. All in all, a busy day.