Reprieve

In spite of one of the nastier winters we've had in recent memory, work for the 100 runs in 100 days challenge continues.

One day of snow after the big melt and refreeze, and it's a winter wonderland once more.

I was convinced I wouldn't be able to match 2016's December mileage (287km), but managed to surpass it by a smidge with 290.9km. It's mostly been about consistency rather than big efforts - most of my runs in the challenge have been right around the 5k/30min mark, which is the minimum requirement.

Frozen waterfalls are a bonus.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at my total on January 15th - one month from the start date of the challenge. How the heck had I run 322km in that time? 200 miles over the holidays - really?

Some of it in some seriously sketchy conditions.

Now, I had totally failed to taper for the Stride Inside 6-hour, which accounted for almost a sixth of the total distance. I was also lucky enough to be able to straight back to regular training after the race - a minimum distance run the next day, but a double on Monday as usual. I ran another double the Saturday after the race, too, before taking part in the Waterloo Marathon Ed Whitlock Memorial Half Marathon Course Preview run on Sunday morning. Throw in another double run day on Monday, and I'd racked up 133km in the 10 days starting with the 48km on the track at Stride Inside.

I'm guessing that's why I was feeling a little knackered by Monday evening. Kicking my arse out the door to run in a snowstorm for the second time that day was one of the most difficult things I've ever done.

Even if the snow was all pretty and glittery.

I'd never been so happy in my life to have nothing but a simple 6k lunch run waiting for me on Tuesday. With a bit of extra sleep some life returned to my legs by Wednesday, but I kept it a little shorter and stuck to the roads instead of chancing the trails after work.

So happy to see some light in the sky at the end of a 7.85km run that started at 5pm!

With another bare-ass minimum run last night through some mashed potato snow, I'm still holding in 10th spot on the challenge leaderboard with 39 runs in the 36 days so far.

I'm sure I'll be knocked down to the 2nd page by tomorrow.

Now with 68km in my legs in the last 7 days, I'm enjoying a day off. I think next week I'll take myself a little mini off-season - only minimum required distance runs for the whole week - to prepare for the next big block of training. It's not quite two thirds of the way through January and I've got 181.9km on the year; burnout and injury won't help me achieve my lofty goals for 2018, so I'll back it off a bit to absorb some of the work.

I just have one little thing to do tomorrow first..

Uhh...splashing through the snow?

If you don't already have plans, I highly recommend you come on out to Camp Heidelberg on Saturday for the 6th more-or-less-annual Frosty Trail Run. Course recon done by a friend today shows no ice, but a snow covered course that should quickly degenerate into mud and slush with the mild temperatures predicted for tomorrow. Why not come out and watch me drag my tired body around a 2.0km loop for three hours - you can laugh at me as you pass, and of course you'll have Tanker the Wonder Sherpa taking care of your every need at the aid station on each lap of the 1, 3 or 6-hour race!

If I'm feeling really ambitious, I might even go out for another couple of laps after I finish the 3-hour..


..but I'm totally resting next week.