First Snow fall of Winter

We had a small amount of over night snow leading me to dig out my Inov 8 Roclite shoes for this morning's run. The temperature in Bury St Edmunds has been sat around 0c or 32f for the last few days and snow has threatened but so far fell in the North East of England. Looks as if we could have some heavier snow showers later on this week and the cold weather is set to stick around until next Tuesday.

The Inov 8 Roclite shoes have a good studded tread pattern and I am pretty confident in running in these without slipping. As ever getting out of the front door is the hardest part of running in cold weather. The thought of the snow and cold is far worse than the actual experience which was pretty enjoyable. Only my hands were a little cold my thin gloves not being sufficient thermal protection to keep these warm.

Run in the Abbey Gardens Bury St Edmunds Suffolk - January 8th 2010

This lunch time between snow showers and with a little blue sky I fitted in a five mile run. This is day 5 of my 11 week Runners World SMART Coach Schedule which called for an easy 5 mile run at a 9.20 pace per mile.

Most of my training last year apart from the interval track sessions was run at the one pace that being dependent on how I felt and what I could run which varied between 8 and 9 minute miles.

There was a lot of lying snow on the ground which has been regularly added to with snowy showers. A thaw isn't due until the middle of next week according to the Met Office weather forecast so it is a case of getting used to it and running the best you can in the snow.

I can certainly feel new muscles on my inner thighs that I didn't know I had as a result of running in the snow. I find you have to work a bit harder in snowy conditions to look where you are putting your feet and when the snow is shoe depth you can tend to slow. As a workout running in snow must be equivalant to running on sand providing resistance training.

Keeping warm hasn't been a problem as long as you layer up well with clothes. The one area that inevitably tends to get damp is the feet and this could be a problem over a longer run. Perhaps double up on the socks anyone else have any ideas on avoiding damp feet in the snow?

Choosing a route to run in the snow is difficult. On the one hand choosing to run in a built up area near traffic and people is safer than running a trail in the country. I largely prefer to do the later but realise that it is all to easy to have a trip or turn an ankle and this isn't something to do in below freezing conditions. The trouble with running near roads is the potential for drivers to lose control and spin off the road , you can also get a lovely wash of slush so I tend to run as far as I can on the inside of pavements.

A good compromise is to find a park or field to run around. Here you obviously avoid the traffic and there will be people around to watch your embarrasment if you take a tumble.

I got most of my run in the Abbey Gardens and avoided one or two snowballs. My speed was slow. The snow actualy helped in this respect as I ran the 5 miles at a 9.20 pace as required. My mile laptimes showed splits of 8.52, 9.23,9.30,9.39,9.14 making for a 46.38 time overall.

One other great preparation for running in the snow is to fuel the body with porridge oats! I did this morning . 
The right breakfast can keep your energy levels high for the rest of the day, says nutritionist Natalie Savona.

The author of the Kitchen Shrink says 'My favourite winter breakfast is a bowl of porridge. It's warm, satisfying, comforting and is a great source of B vitamins, which help convert food to energy in the body, and play a role in making serotonin, the feel-good chemical, in the brain.'

Breakfast may even keep you healthy. Scientists at Cardiff University have shown that breakfast eaters are less prone to winter ills than those that grab a coffee and run. I must admit I generally do the later due to lack of time!!

Mid Winter - Holiday Break Run and Push Ups

Finished work today and to celebrate went for a run this evening. After two family do's and a meal at work I was in need of a run to burn off a few calories. However although there has been no more snow since Monday the ice and snow lingers and it is making it difficult to do any decent running. I haven't run since Saturday and feel the need over the Christmas break to put in some regular mileage weather permitting.

So tonight I decided to find a patch of ice free road and do some repetitions up and down along Newmarket Road in Bury St Edmunds. As I was running in a side road from the main road there was very little traffic and the road was fairly ice free apart from some spots of black ice where my footing would slip so you couldn't have absolute confidence.

I ran over to Newmarket Road doing 1.83 miles in a time of 15.17. My private strip of snow / ice free road ( why was this an oasis of snow free road? No idea) was around a quarter of a mile .23 mile to be precise.

My lap times for .23 of a mile were 1.51, 1.58, 1.57, 2.00, 2.02 and 1.58 a total of 1.41 miles in 11.48.

My run home after this was a good deal slower on the ice.

After my post yesterday about push ups I decided to start again. The push ups demonstrated in the video on the 100 push ups site indicated a bend in the arms which takes your chin almost to the ground. Prior to seeing the video I think when I first did this and scored 30 this was with a slight bend in the arms . I am sure I have seen only a slight bend in some push ups performed on tv. However I started again tonight after my run and I could only do 16 full push ups with full arm bends. So I have a long way to go to reach 100.

The initial "exhaustion" test places you in to a category for the push up work outs to follow.

I started day 1 today which involved sets of push ups doing 10 , 12 , 7, 7 with a minute gap between. For the final set you can do your maximum. I left it for 3 minutes and managed 17.

My arms are like jelly!

Running in the Suffolk Snow December 2009

After yesterdays 'wimp out' I decided I was going for a run this morning regardless of what the weather was doing. I wished I had gone yesterday but didn't feel confident about keeping my footing and avoiding slipping. Running in newly laid snow is to be honest easier than a day later when it has been walked in and becomes lumpy!

Only my hands felt a little cold. I wore a hat, a sweat shirt and thermal top and tracksters. My thin gloves were ok but I could have done with a thermal pair.

After some initial caution I found I could trust my shoes to get sufficient grip. I decided to run along Cullum Road and then head for the pathway along the side of the River Lark in Bury St Edmunds. The sheep grazing in Cullum Road seemed to be enjoying eating bark of the trees presumably to get some kind of mineral intake.

My run time for 5 miles was extremely slow with a time of 46.42 but this is meaning less in these conditions.

On my ipod I listened to a new podcast called Running and Life. This is different from many podcasts as firstly it is a UK based monthly podcast. Most running podcasts are based in the USA so it is always good to hear from fellow podcasters in the UK. On this apart from the UK and the USA there are very few podcasts seemingly from anywhere else in the world unless I am looking in the wrong place as they don't show on I Tunes.

Anyway I have subscribed to Running and Life and recommend if you like listening to an IPOD on a run to give this a listen. It is also different in being more like a running podcast magazine of featured articles and news from fellow runners who have taken apart in races. The 1st episode had a feature on the Eddie Izzard run around the UK.

Snow comes to Suffolk - December 2009

No run today. I took this decision after I went down the garden to let the chickens out of their house. Flimsy excuse really but my hands were bitterly cold and I put doubts into my mind as to whether I would slip in the snow.

With the overnight snow our chickens said no thanks to coming out for a run around. To be honest with 5 inches of snow there was nothing for them to forage on if they had of come out. Instead they chose to stay put in their run. I poured hot water into the lock on the shed so the key would turn and then feed the chickens some corn. Their water was frozen in their feeder so I broke this as well so they could get a drink.

Looking back to some photos I took in February our chickens did venture out then but admittedly this was a much warmer brighter day.

Icy 5

It was only 5pm but already there was a heavy frost on the cars and a crispy glint on the pavements as I set out for a steady 5 mile run.

For the first time this autumn/winter I felt the need to wear a hat and gloves. I hesitated there as to whether it is still autumn or are we in winter? The answer is it that it doesn't matter as whatever season we are officially in nature doesn't run to an official clock. Astronimically winter solstice begins on December 21st so it is still autumn. However Metrologists would go by whole months with December , January and February being winter in our Northern Hemisphere. So take your pick!

My run was pretty good without any obvious back or leg pain. I ran a circular route along Newmarket Rd in Bury St Edmunds with a white visable top over an Ipswich Town football sweat shirt, Ron Hill tracksters and my Asics Gel Stratus 2's. I picked up some excellent sweat shirts from Portman Road about 2 years ago for about £3 which were ex players training wear. I haven't looked at what they are made from but they are just perfect for running being warm and also wicking away sweat.

My laps times were 8.43, 8.35,8.44,8.35,9.12 for 43.51 for the 5 miles. This is better than my last 5 miles times which have all been in the 44 min plus region so perhaps some small improvement.

Horringer Farm Suffolk

6pm 5.5 miles in 45 minutes.

Year to date mileage 980

Month to date 29 miles

Average miles per month 107

Average weekly rate 24.7

Weather: Dry & mild.

As the sunset and the light began to fade around 6.40pm it won't be long before country runs over fields will be off limit in the evenings simply because it will be pitch dark! However the on the on coming winter is not all bad and I began to think of positives for running in the winter.

Good Reasons for Running in Winter

1. Cross country running on soft ground is fun! Yes I think so in fact the more I can get away from roads and pavements the better.
2. There are less obstacles to get in the way - most sane people are shut away in doors. In fact that goes for dogs too!
3. That warm glow and sense of smug satisfaction that runners have when they return home from a run in the freezing cold when it is blowing a gale and lashing down with rain.
4. It gets you away from the tv after all who wants to keep watching the repeats from the 1970's on the BBC. You know 'Only Fools and Horses' will be on tv again and again over the next few months.
5. Over winter you will pile on the pounds with all the Christmas food so you now you gotta keep on running.

I am sure there are lots of other good reasons add to the list please.