January 2012 Running - Snow, stay away!

[pll]

The one trail I have nearby is next to the lake and it freezes -- it's a lot less dangerous to run on the sidewalks... {I think I still have a piece of a winter tight embedded in my left knee after flying into some rocks years ago. That hurt.} The other problem is that it is not well lit. During the winter, if I run before or after work, at least half my run is in darkness.

[SadieKate]

Hmm, in my neck o' the woods, Microspikes on icy trails where the teeth can dig in are far safer than pavement. And sidewalks scare the **** out of me. There are so many more edges and cracks to trip on. I don't know anyone around here who would run on sidewalks in the dark. Matter of fact, we had a long conversation with several people at the running shop about this just on Saturday. Lots of sidewalk horror stories, even daytime versions.

[pll]

Perhaps I have been lucky and have not fallen (yet). The area where I live is a downtown area and is well lit, while there are no lights by the trail. The sidewalks are generally clean (with notable exceptions), particularly along the university area. Where I need to be more cautious is crossing streets, as slushy puddles are typical on the edge of the sidewalk.

[yellow]

Re: running on snow and ice, I am lucky in that I live in a place with a pretty dry climate, so ice is an anomaly (our snow generally stays cold and dry, which keeps it "sticky"). I have Microspikes but have only used them for hiking and backpacking (traveling across snowfields). I'm sure I would use them more if I lived in an icier place. I just wear my regular shoes (trail shoes) with wool socks and wear gaiters if the snow is deep (I have short gaiters). I do have a pair of studded shoes but have only worn them a handful of times; I just don't need them on packed snow. I focus on taking short steps and staying light on my feet. Running in the dark on snow is amazing (but then I really just like running in the dark and love running in the cold). If it's clear and the moon is close to full, you don't even need a headlamp.

If you have an old pair of shoes that you are willing to sacrifice to the winter running gods, you can try doing this to them. Low-budget studded shoes!

Ummmm, yeah. Running on snowshoes is really hard.

Edit: forgot to mention that I don't run on pavement, so I don't have any advice for that!

[skhill]

When I took my dog out for the first pee of the morning, I was slipping around on the snowy sidewalk. It wasn't that much snow, but it was dark and I wasn't wearing my glasses... Still, snowy pavement can be so treacherous.

Back to the treadmill again today-- I'm getting good value from my Y membership this week. It's really not all that bad, compared to the 5F windchill this morning. And they've been having some trouble with the heating system, so it was a reasonable temperature for once-- it took about 3 miles before I was starting to feel it was too warm in there. No one was waiting, so I got in my 5 miles (in 45 minutes flat!).

[limewave]

Did a 6 mile New Year's Day run. I had been sick the entire week before and did nothing remotely looking like "exercise." It was a bit of a shocker, but I wasn't going to miss it. Managed to avg. just over 8 minute miles--not too bad, just a few seconds off my average from last year.

Of course, my legs feel like peanut brittle now.

3 easy miles yesterday.

[chosen1]

I'm working running back into my schedule, did 2 easy miles on Monday and will be doing 3 today. At the end of the year I was having a hate relationship with running and was about to kick it out of my life but the scale tells me my life is "better" when running is included in my workouts