Today "C" and I braved the cold cold cold weather and pushed through to do a 4 miler (including a significant warm up and cool down). Although the temp was actually 20 degrees, the windchill was 10 degrees. We ran an out and back - the out part was brutal . . . into the wind, but the back part was pretty nice (well, not 70 degrees and sunny nice, but sun setting in mid December where ice and snow abound kind of nice). We did the 4 miles in 1:04. We used the 2:2 interval. Our running miles were like 13:30 min/mile - 14:00 min/mile.
Now, I feel I need to address the pace. My average pace in nice weather is like 13 - 13:45 min/miles ("C" is crazy faster than I am, even if she is reading this and saying "No, I'm not!" Don't let her fool ya - she can go so much faster than I). So for us to be able to run 13:30's - 14:00's with intermittent snow and ice patches throughout the entire path in the brutal cold - I feel good about it. Here's my more of my thinking- I wanted my December and half of January to help me maintain a modest level of fitness so that I can begin training for my 3rd half (Geist 5/21/11) mid to late January. I signed up for the May race so that I could have something to motivate me to get out there in the cold (so far, it's really working to help get me to go out there) but it was late enough in May that I wouldn't have to push crazy hard on icy roads (remember from previous posts - scared of falling on ice) in December and January in order to get the full half marathon training schedule completed.
It appears that tomorrow, "C" and I will meet up with RustBeltRunner for a 5.3 miler in the big city. YEAH! Thanks to everyone who encouraged her to do it!!! Stay tuned tomorrow night for an update (cross your fingers, wish us luck . . . especially for RBB's toe).
That wind can be brutal! March training is always far better. I think.
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