In awe

Tag: snow

  • [616] MMT Training 2 (mile 35-65) Second winter storm

    We have a total of four training for MMT 100 mile race. The past weekend, we did the second run. Each run is about 30 ish mile and over four training, we would cover the entire course.  For me, the training runs are more fun the the race itself.

    Night before the run, we had a quick winter storm system swept through the area.  The initial forecast was that we would received up to 6 inches of snow. Note, we had not had snow in our area for about two years until couple weeks ago. Now we had another. The governor did not declare a state of emergency but everyone was getting ready to brace the storm.

    A friend asked if I would head to the training location ahead of time.  To me that is silly talk.  I love my sleep. I’d rather wake up early at 4 am to drive out than to camp out a night early. 

    As I was getting off work, the cars on the roads seemed getting nervous and maybe it was just me.  I changed my plan to go home as soon as I could and packed my things. Everyone I know too was skipping town ahead of the storm.

    I made it to the site by 8 pm. The night was cold. No snow yet.  Our RD also arrived ahead of time and he built me a fire that potentially could last the night. 

    By midnight, he left to check the course and various locations.  I let the fire died out and went to bed.  It started raining a bit.  By the time I woke up, the whole place was in a winter wonderland.

    Everyone showed up.  We left our cars at the finish and carpooled together to the start.  I had a good day.  My run was 30 minutes slower than last year.  I was being careful of not to fall.  And I was wearing my hiking boots instead of my trail shoes. 

    RD said, we need to carry headlamp in case some of us would be finishing at night.  I had mine but I was telling myself, I don’t want to finish in the dark.  I got back as the sun was setting and so were the last few of us.

    Signal Knob, the start of our training run

  • Day407 recovery

    Almost two weeks now, recovery from the hundred mile run is still going slowly.

    Immediately after the race, I could hardly walk. I slept for an hour or so before going back to the hotel that day.

    I then slept for the next 8 hours or so. There was no running the following day.

    Besides, I had to catch the flight back home. No running for that whole week until I think Friday.

    The first run was hard. I literally couldn’t run. Muscle is bad but also my heart/breathing too. The whole body was very heavy.

    Saturday: I went back out. Pretty much the same story. Saturday and Sunday I had the whole day to be out. There was no rush. I walked mostly the first half (about 4 miles) Then the later half, my muscles and body had warm up a bit and it felt good to be able run “normally”.

    I have been going out everyday since. Monday was a holiday so I had a full day running. By Tuesday, my legs were sore again. I had pushed too hard over the weekend.

    Wednesday and Today, I dialed back the miles a bit. I am still out of breath easily. Usually I could only have 1 or 2 miles of good run. The rest was trashed. I walked and ran.

    Today was a snow day. We had 1-4 inches. Some in our neighborhood, we had barely any snow but just a block later we had snow that were knee deep.

    It was hard going. But it was good training. I like to work on my knees and my ankles. The snow kept me on my toes.

    Yes still recovery but I was able to get some good workout from the snow.

  • One of the first

    Day 95

    This is one of the firsts that I showed up And found out I’m not registered for it! There was something wrong with my registration because I used a race coupon and it wasn’t effective for this race (they took my coupon though), hence I didn’t know it didn’t go through. I didn’t check for a confirmation email.

    Anyway things worked out, I decided not to run the 10K due to over-doong it yesterday. I need a day to recover. Hearing the registration didn’t go through was a good news. Earlier I woke up cursing to myself why I signed up and pulled myself together to get to the course. It was raining (misty). Just a relief to me. Now I can go to church! 

    My weekend ended up to be Plan A – the original plan. No craziness of run a back to back race or doing a marathon. 

    Hiking was fun though. Here are couple pix.

    Snow and fog turned everything to black and white

    Snow covered forest

  • Fun and Rest

    Day 94 / weekend half marathon

    I had one of the best races ever. I say that to every race though. But this race I set a PB. I didn’t upgrade to the full marathon and that was a very wise choice. I knew my previous record was 1:49 (hh:mm), so I lined up behind the 1:50 pace group. I was assigned to Coral 3, but the  pacing team actually lined up at the end of Coral 5. We had wave start and Coral 1-5 were part of the first wave. With a couple minutes delay between each coral. Boy did they started out fast. They knew they were going faster than pace. I followed the last pacer of the 1:50 group. He was saying if we want to finish at 1:45 we have to run at 8 min pace. And I checked my watch we we’re running at 7:45 and he agreed. He said the other pacer of the 1:50 group was even faster than him, and laughed. Later on I think after 5 miles I couldn’t keep up with them any more. I told myself I have to run at my own pace. I had no hope of breaking a record. They finished probably at 1:40. They totally left everyone behind!

    My legs were heavy from the start. I think my calves were still in recovery. My breathing were surprising under control. I wasn’t breathing hard at all. I slowed down a bit at mile 5-6 because of a big hill (400 ft?). No good. I couldn’t climb it. I know next marathon is all hills 2000 ft of them. 5 times higher! That is only a month away. I got to the top and got back into my pace.

    I was slowing down again at mile 11. Luckily I saw someone, and she gave me the strength to speed up again. I caught a second wind. When I crossed the finish line and looked up at the clock, unbelievable, it was 1:46 and a Personal Best (PB).

    First half I had 53:10 and second half 53:33. I stopped my watched a 10 seconds late. However, still I didn’t run a negative split. 

    I celebrated this by going up on the mountain in West Virginia, the Big Schloss.

    The race though was in downtown DC, and there was no snow there. It was cloudy and a very decent temperature for running (3-5C?)

  • Inconsequential

    Day 77

    Snow for real! Schools are closed. Government is closed. Buses are on a special schedule and can cancel any time without notice. Yeehaw! It means  we are going camping (can’t wait). That’s how I feel any way. The camping trip is this weekend but I feel we can go today! We have been waiting since last weekend for snow when it was supposed to snow and it has been pushed back to today. (more…)

  • Snow

    Snow

    We have our first snow for 2019. It was a big one. I woke up and all outside was covered with 8-10 inches of white fluff and it forced local schools and the federal government to close at least for today. Not like I didn’t know ahead, since it was forecasted at the beginning of last week. By the way, I was too lazy to head to the mountains over the weekend. My family said they were glad. But the weatherman got it right this time. Imagine braving the element in the woods, what a weekend to tell about for years to come. (more…)

  • Cold

    Winter finally comes for us here in the nation capital. Can you imagine on New Year Day we were in shorts and T-shirt? Even couple days ago the high was in the 60 s, that is around 15C. We could basically run as if were in the summer. (more…)

  • A hike in the woods

    A hike in the woods

    I hate having a dreadful and nagging feeling that something left undone or the pressure of something bad is about to happen. (more…)