So how you gonna do your long sunday run in the snow all you marathon runners?

-17C?!!

Where on earth are you, Steve?

 

Ah, Norway! How do you manage?

Respect Steve. You must be one seriously tough fella.  -17C. Enough to freeze the boll**cks off a brass Monkey.

It's not as bad as it sounds, so long as it's not windy. By the time I got away it had warmed up to about -11C so I managed to get in nine miles on ski trails with six mile intervals at half mp.

Oddly, a little lump of ice formed on the metal back of one of my earphones. Must have been my breath. Otherwise I was getting a bit hot with 2 layers of longs below, three layers over, double gloves and a hat, so I had to take off the fleece buff.

The snow here is fairly thin and over a week old. Even so I tried out a pair of Kahtoola Microspikes that came kn the post today. They will tackle anything but were a bit overkill, and less comfortable than Yaktrax, but those I tend to destroy anywhere between 50 km and 300 km. All in all I'll continue using Icebug Heros when there's any risk of ice and Salomon Speedcross or Inov8s whenever the snow is soft enough or grainy enough to give grip.

"Zitty head"!? ... an image I'd rather not have in my mind....
Tried a snowy run today tho gone slushy here, it was fine once I let go of my target pace and turned it into a fartlek run. Speed up on the clear bits recover on the icy bits. Extra aches tonight tho, it must change your gait, tenses you up I suppose. No falls thank the lord. 5 weeks til HM - trying not to lose touch with the training plan but refuse to go deadmill... but it is a great experience to be out there in the snow.

Props for going out there and doing it, RR

Yet more snow here and a certain lack of gritted roads. Need to get out and do a 15 miler tomorrow (especially as I missed last Sunday's one due to ice). If however, as looks likely, a full 15 miles just won't happen...how best to proceed with my marathon plan? I've managed to get out on a few short runs during the week but fear my endurance will have gone right back down after missing a few weeks of long runs. Should I take a step back or just carry on as I left off?

I'd work out how long the 15 miles would have taken at the right effort level in reasonable conditions and then go out for that time. Long runs are as much about time on your feet.