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Mark B wrote:Holy jumpin' catfish.

I'm used to snow accumulations like that -- in the mountains (though, alas, not this year).

Hopefully the snow is the sort that packs down nicely and gives good traction, at least?

That's a joke, right?

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:

Mark B wrote:Holy jumpin' catfish.

I'm used to snow accumulations like that -- in the mountains (though, alas, not this year).

Hopefully the snow is the sort that packs down nicely and gives good traction, at least?

That's a joke, right?

Um, apparently... We got some nice dry granular snow last winter, followed by super cold (for us) temperatures -- and it wasn't slippery to run on at all. We got the other type later that winter and it was a whole different ballgame. I'm guessing you got the second type.

This winter, we had one cold spell very early on, and then it's been one warm, wet system after another. We didn't even bother to put snow tires on my wife's car.

So when power goes out during a winter storm, what do y'all do and do y'all regularly prepare in the Fall by getting firewood, or what?  I know what we do prepping for a hurricane and after it hits, so that's why I ask.

Regarding your pooch, I hope the NSAIDs help more than expected.

No issue with power outages around here, and I have a gas stove and furnace which you can actually "light" with a long match.  I have a gas fireplace and a wood one as well - so I'd be covered.  We just haven't had enough snow to worry about power outages and we don't get the ice issues that you might have or that I had in Atlanta.

Now as for the NE, with that much snow, you do run the risk of power outages.  So far both my parents and my daughter have been fine.  Of course, in the city, all the power lines are buried.

Dog seems just fine, but we will see - not sure what to really expect.

Living in North Ridgeville we used a wood stove as THE heat source every winter.  All our neighbors would come to visit because our house was always in the mid to upper 70's inside and it was that special kind of heat that comes from a wood stove.  Kinda miss that old stove . . .

Tom H wrote:Living in North Ridgeville we used a wood stove as THE heat source every winter.  All our neighbors would come to visit because our house was always in the mid to upper 70's inside and it was that special kind of heat that comes from a wood stove.  Kinda miss that old stove . . .

Bet you don't miss North Ridgeville though.

Tom H wrote:Living in North Ridgeville we used a wood stove as THE heat source every winter.  All our neighbors would come to visit because our house was always in the mid to upper 70's inside and it was that special kind of heat that comes from a wood stove.  Kinda miss that old stove . . .

I was married with two kids before I ever lived in a house with anything but wood heat.  Even though we have a heat pump and AC now we still enjoy supplementing with wood.  Old habits die hard I guess.

My parents put in one of those wood stoves in our house in Eugene back when I was growing up. Boy, could that warm up the place. I can totally see how wonderful that'd feel on an insanely cold day.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:

Tom H wrote:Living in North Ridgeville we used a wood stove as THE heat source every winter.  All our neighbors would come to visit because our house was always in the mid to upper 70's inside and it was that special kind of heat that comes from a wood stove.  Kinda miss that old stove . . .

Bet you don't miss North Ridgeville though.

Not with the weather you've been having!

I seem to remember seeing some sort of melting set up to melt snow that's on a roof.  Seemed like it was tubes with warm anti-freeze or something?  Is that an expensive system to establish or do I need a random drug screen?

You are correct, Ounce - it is typically an electric system that heats up and melts the snow, but it only works if you have a pitched roof of course and most people do not have them as it usually isn't a problem.  My parents actually have on on their house in MA which has helped them this year.  Also, they live in a single story ranch with a basement.  With this much snow, their snow removal guy has been able to almost walk right up onto their roof and clean it off for them.

On the other hand, my daughter lives in a brownstone in the city (BU's campus consists of a street where all the brownstones have been converted into dorms or offices for the school.  The roofs are flat and the amount of snow that they have had is causing many many issues.  Even if they have a melting system, where does it go?  These roofs are fun in the summer when you can go up there and party and sit under the stars enjoying the river, but now, not so much.

I hope spring comes soon! Next week is March, looking forward to that. What a lot of snow!

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:With this much snow, their snow removal guy has been able to almost walk right up onto their roof and clean it off for them.

Boy, that says a lot, doesn't it? Wow.

Hope the eventual melt-off doesn't lead to further catastrophes, but I'm not optimistic.

How'd you like them apples?  Referring to the 6-2 blowout, of course.

I'll take it as will the Bs.  

As for my running, after a really horrid long run of just 12 miles (it was on snow and in snow), I've decided to shut it down for a couple of days.  I think I'm a bit overdone.   Here are some pictures of our run, my backyard (Lake Erie), and the beach I live next to.

You look pretty smiley for being shut down, but I hear ya.  Spring is just around the corner, right?

That snowman in the bottom picture must be someone from Texas or is that bait for a polar bear?

The jet stream for next week looks a lot flatter for the northern tier with a Pacific component to it, except for Mark's area of course, as his comes from Alaska.

Holy Toledo! I'd half expect to see the conning tower on a submarine jutting up through the middle of that icepack. Wow.



When it freezes like that, is it thick enough to walk/drive on? And when does it thaw?

Smart that you're taking a break, BTW. It sounds like your body needed it.

The rest did indeed help as my runs on Wednesday (outside) and Thursday (inside) were much better even though they were at a relatively easy pace.  I still don't feel 100% and always have to laugh when I feel winded after carrying the laundry upstairs (lol).  In one week, I'll be leaving for a mini vacation in the Bahamas followed by NYC for a couple of days and the NYC Half Marathon.  At least I'll escape the cold finally.  Tomorrow for our long run it is supposed to be -4 at the start and warm up to 11 or 12, but it is supposed to be sunny which makes a lot of difference.  I can even see where snow has definitely melted from the sun even in the 14F temps we have today.  

Debating whether or not to save next weeks longish run for the Bahamas although the thought of running in 80F weather isn't much more pleasant than 5.  I'm also not sure if it is safe enough for me to run that kind of time/distance there even if it just means circling Paradise Island for 3 hrs on foot.  I'm hoping that it is warm enough on Friday to venture out for a few miles before I leave.  Glad that it will be "taper" week before my half.  After all, we are expecting 4-8 inches of snow Saturday night through Sunday - and yes, it will be March 1st!

Oh man, more snow! In like a lion, out like a lamb. I remember the first weekend in March last  year. It was so crazy cold and two of my friends ran a local 50K.

After taking three days completely off and running easy after that, my 18 miler went extremely well.  It was cold - very cold, in that when we started it was -6F, but we ran on the road for all but 4 miles which kept us on dry pavement for the most part.  We did venture onto the all purpose trail in the busy section where it is a cut through and up the hill where there is a blind curve.  It was cold but my thumbs were the only cold part of my body after about 6 miles, and then after that, nothing was cold.  The sun came out and it did warm up, but we still stopped at the heated golf course bathroom - they have xc ski rentals and such so it is open - to get water since all of our water bottles pretty much froze.  Most of the group only did 16 and when we got to 3 miles left (for them, 5 for Tim & I), we dropped the pace, and Tim & I maintained that pace right through the final 5 miles even with two on the snowy path.  Now we were not breaking any records as it took us 2:59 to run the 18 miles, but our pace for the first 8 averaged around 10:10 and our overall final pace was 9:58 - so you can see that we did drop it down.

Woke up this morning to about an inch of snow and lots of slush, so I decided to wait and run inside later (Rec center doesn't open until 11) and I was glad that I did.  Chuck was up there running his recovery run and although he is faster than I, we started together and I was surprised at my HR and the pace.  I ran 5 miles at an 8:40 average and it felt easy.  Not only that, my HR never strayed above the range I was looking for.  I guess there is something to be said for rest.

Good to hear that the rest helped and your 18 miler went well.  I can't imagine trying to train in those conditions!

Enjoy the much deserved warm vacation!!

Well Cleveland seems to have missed the weather that is plaguing most of the country just south and east of us. We did have a bit of snow/ice/rain on Tuesday and we were worried that it would freeze over by the time our group meets so we decided to run our workout inside.  I'm still dialing it down a bit, so I was only going to do one harder mile and the rest as a Progression Run which I did pretty successfully even on the indoor track where it seemed like a bit of a NASCAR track with all the people who seemed to feel they had to run inside as well.  

Turned out that we missed the bad stuff and it stayed warm enough that I ran outside yesterday and it was almost 30F!  Of course, the white/gray/ice and crap has not melted and the sidewalks for the most part are still covered with the crap where the laziest feel like they do not need to shovel (grrr).  It is tricky running along the roads when the cars seem like you should be on the sidewalk (because there is one) and not in the shoulder (which is actually wide for bikes!).  So 5 mile went by easily enough which was nice.

Decide that although it is much colder today, most of the roads and any shoveled/plowed sidewalks/paths are clear, so I'm going to head out later today before I work with my trainer for another easy 5 or so miles.  I'm set to run long(ish) tomorrow which might be interesting since we are going down to 1-2F tonight, but at least we will have no white stuff falling from the sky.  It was/is either that or run long(ish) in 80F temps in the Bahamas.  Frankly, it might seem odd but running long (ish) in single digits temps actually seems easier! LOL.

Off to the Bahamas on Saturday and into a mini-taper before the NYC Half Marathon on Sunday the 15th.

Ooo! The Bahamas? That's going to feel nice. (Okay, that's probably an understatement.)

Ran 14.5 indoors today on the track as it was very cold in the morning, the sidewalks are still ice covered which means road (and its rush hour), the park is a bit lonely (not necessarily safe even in the cold whilst alone), and well, I really detest the TM.  Ran two 7+ mile segments with a quick bathroom/gel break in between the two segments.  I re-started my watch so as to fool my brain and that did help.  Ran the 2nd segment faster than the first while keeping the HR in check.

Now off to bed as I have a 5:55 am flight to Newark connecting to Nassau!