Freethinker ~ Freerunner

The blizzard that passed through Oklahoma on Tuesday has really put a damper on my training.  In fact it has pretty much shut down all of Tulsa.  Most businesses, including ours have not been open for three days now.  I turned on my TV this morning to see rescuers pulling 8 people out of a half sunk Chevy Avalanche that had careened off a bridge and fallen perhaps over 50 feet into a river.  The official report was that five of the eight survived.  Let's just say that road conditions in my area have been treacherous.  

After being cooped up in my house since Monday night I finally decided I had to get out and at least stretch my legs.  I ran mostly the neighborhoods, but I did get out onto 111th street.  All the roads are pretty much ice and snow covered.  I almost slipped and fell and couple of times in the neighborhood.  I finished my six miles in 55:31 and I must say it felt great.  I am looking forward to this melting off so I can not only get my life back to normal, but so I can also get my training back under way.  

I ran this morning for the second time on snow and ice packed streets since Tuesdays blizzard.  This time I was prepared however, as I learned a great trick to achieving traction on ice.  The trick is to drill 1/2 inch hex head screws into the tread on the bottom of your running shoes.  I used ten screws in each shoe mostly around the outside area of the soles.  It really worked wonders.  I did not have any close calls slipping on the ice or snow packed streets.  I highly recommend this shoe alteration for those who can't stand indoor running when the streets are in icy condition.  I used my old New Balance 1225's.  That is why I did not record shoe mileage today.  My 1225's are from before I started using the shoe manager.  

My triathlon training is completely screwed this week since I've barely been able to get out of the house in my vehicle much less my bike.  I only got to the gym to go swimming for the first time last week yesterday afternoon.  Our main streets are finally mostly cleared, but the bad news is that we have another big storm moving in Tuesday evening that could deliver 5 to 10 inches.  Tulsa is just not used to this kind of weather, so it has really been difficult getting out and around.  Many businesses and government offices had to close for most of last week.

I ran the treadmill today (blah!) because I also had to swim today.  Since I also had to work today, I had to go to the gym and get my workout in as quickly as possible.  So while I would have preferred to run outside, even though we still have snow and ice everywhere and the temperature was about 18 this morning, I had to move it inside to conserve time.   

Brick run and first run after about ten days of no exercise do to pneumonia.  I am still recovering and coughing a little, but it felt really good to get back out there.  

I probably should have rested today, but I've been down so long that I had to go run again.  I did seven this morning and my legs were just a little bit sore from my bike ride and brick run yesterday.  

Easy 10.  It feels good to finish out 20 this week after having taken off all last week due to being sick.  

This was my first Sunday long run with in two weeks after being sick.  I also have not run with Kevin in about four weeks.  It was good to catch up.  I really enjoyed my self this morning.  Our goal was to run 90 minutes at an 8:30 pace, but we ended up finishing in an 8:00 minute pace.