Have I been picked up by the Whambulance?

After reading a few other blogs from triathletees in the more northern states and Canada,

I think need a ride in this vehicle.



My new ride

It has been cold and extra snowy here in Philly.  Last year was bad with snow, but not as cold.  This year it SUCKS out loud.  As I am moving through a Prep phase of Ironman training I don't mind riding the trainer or stationary bike all that much, but can only take it for 1-1.5 hours before I start to go crazy.  As we all know the scenery never changes when you are standing still.  The trainer is out in my shed in front of an extra TV I saved, so I can watch movies or cycling DVD's.  So far I like watching the Lake Placid Ironman course from Troy Jacobson.  I feel like it gives me a pretty good sense of the course.  I won't ride my bike in the snow or cold, so I guess I am a wussy.  I don't think the risk is worth it right now.  I would much rather suffer through the mental challenge of a 90 minute indoor ride as opposed to freezing my jewels off or taking a nasty spill on black ice. 

The swim sessions are easy to get through since I have to go to the NE YMCA to get in the pool.  I have not won the POWERBALL jackpot yet, so no indoor pool at the house yet.  I break up my swim sessions into 100 yard intervals.  This seems to help the distance and time go by without too much "clock watching".

The area I am suffering through the most right now is the run.  I miss going outside for my normal 7 mile run at work.  The cold is not as bad, I will go out in 20-30 degree weather because I will layer the correct way.  But right now its the snow and ice covered roads.  I am not ready to risk it right  now.  If is was just snow I'd be ok with it.  Last year I trained for the BOSTON MARATHON running during/after snow and was fine.  Its the ice I stay away from.  I also don't feel comfortable running in the middle of the street because the sidewalks are not clear.  I don't recall car dodging being on the training program.

Wednesday 1/26--It was snowing again today.  They are calling for a pretty big snow storm broken into 2 parts, on in the morning and one at night.  When I got to work I did a good 40 minute weight training session, follwed by a 24 mile session on the stationary bike in 1 hour.  Once I got home, we closed early at work beacuse of the storm, I had to shovel for about 30 minutes.  This snow is a wet heavy snow.  There was a break for 3 hours in the afternoon before it started up again.  I went back outside to shovel at 10:30pm to try to get a head start on it so I could go to work on Thursday.  I came back in at 11:30pm, having shoveled about 4 inches on snow.

Thursday  1/27--what a punch in the face.  I woke up at 4am.  We had another 12-15 inches of snow on the ground.  It took me from 4:15am-6:45am to shovel out our cars, walkway, and driveway.  My plan was to get in a run and bike, but that was scrapped.  I went to work by 8:30am and returned home at 4pm.  I still had another hour of snow removal to deal with.  Living in a row home in Philadelphia, you physically run out of space to put this much snow.

Friday 1/28--man I thought I was in shape.  My arms and traps hurt so bad from all the shoveling yesterday and Wednesday.  I managed a 3 mile run followed by a 12 mile bike ride.  Just enough for me to feel halfway decent about not missing 2 days of workouts.

Tonight the whole family went out for a meal and some drinks.  After 3 days of being stuck inth house with no school, Cathy needed to escape and get some fresh air and a few cold adult beverages.  It was worth the $$.