In some ways, winter is a higher risk for my knees. In moderate and warm weather I split my surface time 50/50 between road and trail, the warm air means I reach my anaerobic threshold faster and so my pace can't be too crazy, and I can add on however many miles of walking cool-down without need of an entire change of clothes or some other form of protection not feasibly carried with me. With winter, I'm stuck on pavement 90% of the time, cold temps mean I'm able to do more miles faster without blowing up (and to keep warm some times it pushes my pace a bit), and my cool-downs are abbreviated to five minutes at most to avoid hypothermia (I still sweat a lot in winter, no matter how few layers are worn) and because once up the five flights post-run I just can't make myself change clothes and head back down.
But, that's where snow comes into play. Snow! Fog! That's when you are really winter-running. It was winter running that solidified my love of distance running. Those few winters during which I did not run in lieu of long term rest - I felt like I missed them completely, no matter how much I cycled at the time. I'm weird like that. Winter weather makes me giddy and wish to be outside.
I had the most delightful long run since October when half of my route was covered in an inch or two of snow. It was powder - no ice hidden beneath, and no wet snow that then froze overnight. My pace was appropriate, the ground felt almost as soft as a trail. It kept all but two weekend warrior cyclists away, and the dozen other runners I encountered that morning were similarly smiling, exchanging hellos and good mornings. You have a protective bubble of warmth surrounding you, a little capsule that exchanges your enjoyment with your surroundings. Somehow all is right with the world during those few hours.
I find myself looking wistfully out the window whenever the city gets fresh snowfall or a dense fog, like Saturday morning in the start of the "blizzard" (yes, it was a blizzard for all points north and east, but for the city it was merely a snow storm) on Saturday morning and Monday while on my walk:
So that made Sunday's long run a bit sad when I arrived at the GWB and found the entrance to the pedestrian bridge closed. I had hoped to slip-slop my way over the bridge and to then post-hole as far as I could tolerate along the Palisades road. Probably safer, and granted my bridge approach was less a run and more of a silly sub-jog. You know the type - picking up your feet high enough to be running but in terms of forward progression you are at a slow walking pace. But still, I was looking forward to it. As I non-jogged my way back toward Broadway a long cyclist slowly carved a path through the salty-semi-slush in the middle of the street. I shook my head to let him know the bridge was closed. He sighed, "That's too bad." Indeed.
I slopped my way down to Central Park, where enough New Yorkers will wail with fists flying if the city does not clean off the main loop to provide a safe recreational experience. Unless the snow and ice are actively falling, it is guaranteed that the loop will be clean and covered with so much salt that there's no chance of it freezing in 10 degree temps. And yet at least three runners insisted on running the loop wearing their Yaktrax, their confidence on pavement boosted the sound of scraping and bending metal coils underfoot.
Public Service Announcement, y'all: Yaktrax, Stabilicers, Microspikes, etc, are only meant for use on snow and ice. Wearing them on regular pavement will destroy them within a couple miles. When you encounter open pavement you must either 1) find a parallel path that does have ice or snow, or 2) remove the product (they are all meant to be easily taken on/off) if staying on the clean pavement. So while they were helpful in traversing the un-shoveled side streets to get to the park, once on the 6-mile loop of open pavement you should take them off and either carry them or have something in which to store them for your park-based run.
Then again, this is New York. It is quite possible that these people consider such gear to be disposable. Whatever.
Monday warmed up into the 40s with rain tapering off into fog, snow already dwindling fast. So it goes in the city. That would have made for some awesome long run weather. I may be one of few people who gets so excited by gray overcast skies.
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| Perfect. |
