Be Careful What You Wish For

I haven't been minding our mild winter at all. But I was hoping for a little snow- just to make things pretty and wintery. I should have known better because as extreme as the weather has been the past couple of years, at the end of this week, we got hit with a really wild snowstorm. Friday morning began with about 6 inches of heavy, wet snow and wind that chased me back inside before I could even start my run. As the morning went on, it changed to rain, turning the snow into slush, changing back to snow again, dropping about 4 more inches on top of the slush overnight. The wind continued, and during the day on Saturday, the temperatures began to drop.  It's going to be cold and windy for the next few days, which means most likely I'll be spending quality time with my TM.

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: Trail Sisters run 6 miles

Monday: CrossFit

Tuesday: Fluid Running

Wednesday: run 10 miles

Thursday: CrossFit

Friday: treadmill run 6 miles

Saturday: snowshoeing

I was excited to meet up with the Trail Sisters on Sunday at one of the local preserves. The trails were covered with snow, but it wasn't too deep. As we always do, we split up into groups according to pace. Our group ran at a conversational pace, which fit nicely with my goals. 

Monday's CrossFit workout was a Metcon--a CF Open workout from a few years ago. I'm sharing the graphic from the website instead of writing it out in a paragraph: (and yes, we all were wondering about those BJs)

This 8 minute AMRAP was as tough as it looked. I did the masters workout and made it to the 135# deadlifts, but could only complete 11 before time was called. Those box jumps really slowed me down. We finished with a post-metcon workout: 5 rounds, 30 seconds on, 15 seconds rest of Mountain Climbers, Superman scissor kicks, and bag/bear hug hold (I subbed planks). 

After looking at the weekend's forecast of subzero temperatures--I guess El Niño has moved on--I decided to do my long run on Wednesday morning. The conditions for this run weren't optimal either--we had a snowstorm on Tuesday--but I figured with temperatures in the 30s, I should get this 10 miler done. The trails and bike paths were all snow and ice packed, so it was to the roads for me. It's been a long time since I've done a long run on the roads, but I dialed into my slow, steady 10 m/m pace and weaved my way around the neighborhoods where I live. I did a great job maintaining this pace, save for the few passages where I had to deal with ice/snow. I wore my Brooks Ghost GTX and my feet stayed warm and dry!

With SJ recovering from her ACL repair (she's doing great!), I signed up for the WOD on Thursday. This was a fun one-- we started off with a group warmup for the Power Snatch Drop Sets workout. Basically, we built to a heavy weight that we could snatch 2-3 times with good form. For me, this was 50#. From there, we dropped the weight incrementally--I dropped 5 pounds from my bar each time--and increased the number of reps until we couldn't do any more. When I was done, I ended up with 20# on my bar and did 15 reps. I probably could have done more, but my heart was pounding! We finished up with a short MetCon, a 7 minute AMRAP of 5-10-15-20-25 wall balls alternating with slam balls. I made it through the first 4 rounds and was starting on my wall balls for round 5 when time was called. 

When I woke up Friday morning, I was excited to see that despite the fresh snow we had received overnight, the roads were clear! After a cup of coffee, I got myself dressed to run. When I got outside, the road was no longer clear--there were 2 inches of fresh snow. The wind was whipping, and I started to think that maybe running outside wasn't such a good idea. I went back inside, changed into shorts and a tank, and fired up the treadmill. I just could not settle into a groove, wishing I could have run outside. Still, I got it done. When I left for work, there were 6 inches of snow on the road and I knew I made the right decision.

My office closed at noon on Friday and when I arrived home, I tacked the driveway. Shoveling 6 inches of slushy snow for over an hour has to count as a strength workout! I skipped my strength workout on Saturday, planning on taking a rest day, but the lure of the snow was too much. I took my snowshoes to the trails and did a 3 mile loop. It's quite a workout!

Good news!

I'm happy to share that I've been invited to join the Brooks Running Collective for 2024! This is the new iteration of the Brooks Run Happy Team and will be my 3rd year with the team. Not knowing what, if anything, the rebranding would change, I was excited to be asked back. Our first town hall meeting is coming up and we should learn more about the plans for the upcoming year. For this seasoned runner, the enthusiasm of the team continues to fuel my love for running!

How was your week? Are you experiencing extreme weather? Have you every tried snowshoeing? Are you training for any races? Any good news this week?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown.