A bit of S&M recently. The first snowy run a week ago brought with it a slightly scary refresher course in winter running. It was as if I'd never run on snow and ice before. With an altered, heel-crashing stride, my hip flexors didn't like it at all. They had been tight since the Grizzly Ultra and all its crazy downhill trails.
2 days later, it seemed like I'd been running in sub-zero weather all summer. I noticed how I could tell what I was about to step on (what was under the snow - ice or none, etc) by looking at a spot a few metres ahead. That's quite a relief as it's usually this time of year that I'm backing off to fully recover and slowly get used to the (extreme) cold before ramping up for training again in January. No time for that with 4 1/2 weeks till Sacramento.
Sunday's 28k run was a little rough. Either going through snow or slush (very porous shoes!) was draining, now I need to revert to out-and-backs on the prepared pathways which will make for rather boring long runs. I had also done hot yoga that morning 4 hours before, instead of the usual saturday late afternoon. I found myself walking up the last hill 1k before the end, about 4 hours of accumulated workout. Not bad considering. When I got to the top, I had to say out loud "and running in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.." Yesterday (monday) I felt to stiff and exhausted to do my recovery run. To my delight though, legs and energy seemed to come back to me in the afternoon.
So, no more yoga before a run on the same day. For November then it's a matter of keeping myself just the healthy side of exhaustion until taper time.
I hear you man. It takes me until January to accept the cold weather is here to stay too. I've been running the treadmill and the Oval in hopes that Fall will return.
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