Running in the snow

This week was tough. I started on Tuesday with my usual 4 mile route and struggled with side aches. I felt like I had no strength in my legs. Then on Thursday I increased my distance to 6.2 miles, and did OK until the last couple miles. I have been adjusting my diet, with an aim of losing weight instead of slowly gaining. I'm going to make some additional adjustments next week and see if that helps.

[Left: at the turn around] Saturday was something totally different. It started snowing Friday, so I was expecting to deal with snow Saturday morning, but I didn't know how bad the traffic was going to be getting to the run. With the Antelope Island Buffalo Run, they offer a group training run on different parts of the course on the first Saturday starting in November until the race. I missed November's run (hadn't got my mileage back up yet following the Bear), so I planned on going on December's run. I had left home with plenty of time to get to the entrance (8am meeting place) of Antelope Island, but the traffic was snarled in snow, averaging around 50mph the entire way. I got there at 08:07 just as they were leaving the parking to go onto the island. The most dangerous part of the run was the drive there.

[Right: return trip] There was hardly any snow on the ground when we arrived, but it was starting to snow and would increase while we ran. There was around 16 that had shown up for the training run, an out-n-back of just under 15 miles. A couple of runners even wore shorts. As is typical with a group run, I started out much faster than I normally would have and covered 6.2 miles in the first hour. I was feeling like I had pushed a little too hard, so I allowed myself to slow down a little, and arrived at the turn around, took a short break, then started the return. Most of the group was already at the turn around when I arrived, but I was the third person to leave, although the rest of the group started up shortly after me. The snow let up and the last hour of the run was quite enjoyable. I spotted a coyote out on some salt flats and several jack rabbits on the run, and saw many of the buffalo in the pens that we passed by. By the time we finished, the sun peaked out and it warmed up a little. [Left: finished!] The distance was 14.6 miles and my time was 2:31:51, which is excellent for me considering that is my longest run since the Bear. Actually, the conditions were very similar to the last 25 miles of running the Bear (although it wasn't as windy yesterday, and not nearly as remote).

Next week I'm going to take a bit of recovery time before pressing up the mileage again.