Snow Storm = No Run This Weekend :-(

Toronto received about 15 cm of snow on Friday. Lots of media attention during the past week warning us of the Friday's chaos -- hence my reason for my run on Wednesday (it was a must run even if the sidewalks weren't dry -- so glad I did it!). I even got off work at 1:00 pm on Friday as it was a PA day at school. It took slightly over 2 hours to get to work and another 2 hours to return home. The 4 hours on the public transit wasn't a waste of time as I got some much needed work done as well as a few short naps (but nothing like last year when the driver had to wake me up when we reached the final stop -- actually that happened on 2 separate occasions). I went outside this morning and took the following photo of the product of Friday's snow storm:



The good news is rain is on its way on Tuesday and will melt any Frosty Snowmen created yesterday - but that's after we get another 5-10 cm of snow Monday evening. Aarugh! Once the snow has melted (or at least been cleared from the sidewalks), I will be back to running!. In the mean time, I will do some strengthening exercises for my knee.

I'm continuing to read past issues of the Runner's World (as I await the next issue in the mail). Here are some highlights from the September 2007 issue:

• p. 38: Excessive Knee Lift: "When runners tire, they often overstride, which exaggertes their knee lift. But lifting your knees just tires out the quadriceps even more quickly, leading to sore thighs the next day. Your knees should primarily swing foward and back not pump up and down. If your knees are lifting up instead of swinging forward: (1) reduce the length of your stride. (2) Keep your feet low to the ground. (3) Maintain a quick stride rate, just lightly touching the ground with each footfall."

• p. 76: "In the first hour after a workout - especially long runs and speed sessions - consume a few hundred calories of mostly carbs with some protein to speed muscle recovery. (If you wait until after the first hour, your muscles' ability to use those calories to refuel drops by 66 percent.)

• p. 53-54: "The Spud Report" "Baked, mashed, or boiled, potatoes actually provide more energy - delivering complex carbohydrates than a cup of past. All varieties - russet, red, yellow, purple, and sweet - contain impressive quantities of vitamins and minerals."

and from the August 2007 issue of Runner's World:

• p. 40 "Know Your Number": "Most runners' paces per every 400 meters will increase by aout four seconds as they move up from one 'classic' race distance to the next...the Four-Second Rule gives you only a good estimate of what your pace and performance times should be." E.g., 10K takes 40 minutes (6:24 per mile): 5K would take 19:10 (6:08 per mile); 1/2 marathon would take 1:27:30 (6:40 per mile); marathon would take 3:02:00 (6:56 per mile)