Monday, December 8, 2008

A Snowy 20 Miler

Winter boots...allowing for the resurgence of the "tuck and roll" concept:Sunday morning arrived and I was out the door at 8 am. I was carrying citrus nuun in my Camelbak and three Gus with me (Tri-Berry, Chocolate Outrage and Chocolate Mint). I'm definitely liking the nuun/Gu combo for nutrition and hydration. In hindsight I wish I would have gotten out the door an hour earlier... When I left the sidewalks were bare, but about 5 minutes in to my run the odd errant snowflake was floating around in the air. The run was feeling great - my heart rate was low, pacing felt easy...all was going so well. In fact, I wasn't trying harder, but I was running faster than last weekend. Initially the snow was melting when it hit the ground, but it didn't take too long for it to start accumulating. As the snow kept flying it became apparent that it wasn't going to let up anytime soon. I downed my Gus at miles 5, 10 and 15 and sipped on nuun about every 20 minutes or so. Right around the 15 mile point the amount of snow on the sidewalks was becoming insane. You can see that the shift happened so quickly on my pace chart below. All of a sudden it felt like I was running in sand and I was just losing a ton of energy.
*You can ignore the final pace bar since that is for the two seconds after mile 20 clicked off on the Garmin, but I didn't hit the "stop" button right away.* I felt so strong going into those last 5 miles and I was so ready to knock them out, but Mother Nature had something else in mind for me. All of a sudden I was just ready to be done slogging through the snow. Despite telling myself that I was stronger than this my legs just weren't having it. This was what it looked like when I got home, just over 3-1/2 hours later:

I figure we probably got about 5 cm of accumulation while I was out. Everything I had on was completely soaked - socks, shoes, tights, t-shirt, top, gloves and hat. I changed into sweats right away to warm up and downed some eggs, bacon and hot chocolate. I had intended to head in to work once my run was done, but after seeing all of the cars sliding around my neighborhood (and reading the heavy snowfall warning) I decided to just hang out at home. I figured this would be a great opportunity for me to catch up on laundry and maybe make a proper meal for dinner. Shortly after finishing my lunch the tiredness hit and I wound up napping on the couch for almost three hours! So much for getting stuff done around the house, but I did make it out for groceries and wound up fitting in my recovery spin, core and stretching. I am slightly disappointed in how this run ended up as I would have loved to finish stronger, but I'll have a chance for redemption in two weeks on my final long run. 35 km or 21.75 miles...

14 comments:

Road Warrior said...

Great job! You're going to be ready for Disney!

Mel-2nd Chances said...

awesome job on the run!! post run afternoon naps are the best :)

Viv said...

Harcore Lena, no doubt!

RoadBunner said...

I agree! Hardcore! Great job!

Wes said...

Chica!! Your are giving me a huge motivational boost!! I will have the opportunity to run Wednesday I think. Let's get it done!!!

RunToTheFinish said...

geez I was just thinking I am not ready for snow and you're already bounding away in it

audgepodge said...

You're a champ for braving the elements for that 20-miler :) You will rock Disney!

ShirleyPerly said...

Well, one thing for sure, you will not have snow at Disney. The last couple years temps have gotten up to 70-80 degrees so more than likely, you will get a nice tan.

Keep up the great training!

Run Mommy said...

You are totally going to kick my butt at Disney. I hope I will be able to find you there! Your are definately more hard core - good for you!

Marcy said...

You get the trophy for hardcore NO DOUBT!! OMG CHICA!! That's insane (yet awesome LOL)

rocketpants said...

wow...nice running...crazy weather there!

Sarah Elaine said...

You RAN yesterday?? OMG, that's crazy! The only reason I went out was because I had to go to a funeral. Otherwise, my ass would have been on the couch all day.

Well done on the long run, though!

Sonia said...

Eh no neeed for disappointment here Lady!!!! You ran a 20 miler in a snowstorm! ;-) I think that's pretty impressive =)

You're so strong this year Leana, you're going to kick your old marathon PB in the ass!

Laurel said...

Seriously, nothing is better than a long nap after a 20 mile run. Especially on a snowy day like that!

It must have stunk to run in that, but it's so beautiful. And think of what a great workout your legs got those last 5 miles.

Way to stick it out. A little snow can't stop Leana!!!