Training When Snow is Everywhere

Not sure what you expected to get with a question like that. Seems like the range of answers was limited, obvious, and things that you already knew. May not be popular to go up against Captain Haddock, but I?ve always found XC skiing to be effective cross training, especially classical style. So, apparently, did Kampenainen, who cross trained on a Nordic Track. I also did some running on snowshoes back when they were those big wooden things. Since I was a track guy and not a marathoner, I had a particular hill I sprinted up over and over. It was a dead end road, real steep, with no traffic. Low impact due to its steepness. Repeat until fully fatigued; then do 3 more.

Others have talked about running on concourses, parking garages, etc. Even if they have a linoleum tile on top, they?re concrete 1/16? down. Doesn?t sound promising for a guy who gets stress fractures.

There?s a story about Dave Hemery, 1968 Olympic champ in the 400 hurdles. He was an Englishman at Boston University. Sometime in the winter of 67-68, Christmas break, I believe, everything in Boston was closed due to a huge snowstorm. He hadn?t heard that his practice with the coach was cancelled, so he made it down to the locker room anyway, expecting to find that the coach wasn?t there. He was. Hemery said something to the effect that they of course wouldn?t be training that day. The coach?s response was to open the door out of the locker room, and point at the track, and say, ?The road to Mexico City is out there.? Hemery did the practice. The rest is history.

Listen you think you have it bad. We are getting blasted out here in Northern California. The rain has flooded the track. Made our trails too muddy to negotiate. Too make matters worst, the health clubs power went out when I was in the middle of a tempo run on the treadmill. Geez, when I signed up for this they never mentioned it would get this bad in the brochure. Cheer up all you northeasterns, your Nor-Cal buddies can sympthasize with you. We are getting much training in either. Happy New Year!!!

You could be a wuss or you could go out and run.

From 2001:-

Paula Radcliffe fought off the bitter conditions to win the Great North Cross-Country Run in Consett, Durham.

The Briton held off the challenge of Olympic 10,000m gold medallist Derartu Tulu to take the 6km race in more than eight inches of snow.

She finished over a minute ahead of her Ethiopian rival, who was severely hampered by the extreme conditions, in a time of 20 minutes 20 seconds.

Radcliffe, 27, revealed she was undaunted by the freezing weather.

"If you enjoy certain conditions then when you see those conditions are in place, it does psychologically give you a bit of a lift," she said.

"I love running in snow, I just see it and run."

Doesn't Road runner sports sell something akin to spikes or cleats you can attach to your running shoes to help you with your footing in the ice?? I think I have seen it in the catalog.

running on the treadmill is no different for runners than cycling on an indoor trainer is for cyclists: the same as being outdoors?? 'course not. better than nothing?? yes. better than falling on your ass and breaking your tailbone?? case closed.

Stop whining. I live in New Hampshire and I'm training just like I always do. It's not impossible to run in the snow. You can run on the roads too, just not as often since you get stress factures. And it is possible to find an indoor track in the area to do workouts on. Let me rattle off a few places that have them. Harvard, UNH, Bowdoin, Colby, Boston University, Andover High School, Pinkerton Academy High School, Cedardale Athletic Club, Brown University and I'm sure there are many schools in Connecticut that have facilities as well. Sattle up and do the work.

I guest everyone has their preference... I just got off the treadmill. It does not mess up your stride either you just have to increase the incline, slap on your Discman if you have one and run. as for running in the snow just do it and be careful. My days of that are over with. Come to think of it I was always a fair weather guy anyway.

TrackRunner262275 wrote:

For all those who have called me a wuss for not being a "real runner" let me set you straight.

Those who call me a wuss, try it yourself. Take every one of your 100 weekly miles out on the asphalt and concrete and see how you feel after a little while.

Granted, if I stayed on the roads just until the snow melted I might not have a problem in this brief time period.

But in the long time, those who make themselves out to be great big tough guy runners who will pound out 150 mile weeks on the road while snow covers everything because they have great drive and desire are really pretty stupid, as they will soon find themselves pool running.

I've been running on concrete and asphalt for nearly 30 years. No probs.

Wuss.

15 yards.

Different people are different. Some tolerate hard surfaces better than others. You're a lucky guy. Our subject here is an unlucky one. That's different than being a wuss.

Meanwhile, back at the discussion of whether or not he's a wuss for other reasons...

1. Find a big open area (e.g., school athletic fields), put on your spikes and do a fartlek run.

2. Do some recon and find the roads near you that are fairly clear and/or have less traffic.

3. If you have to, drive someplace that has clearer roads and run there.

4. Get over your treadmill phobia and run on one. I *hate* treadmills, but it\'s better than skipping a day. You could even program it to run 2 minute intervals or do a tempo run (that way, you don\'t have to spend as much time on the friggin\' thing).

5. Do some easy maintenance miles this week and wait for the stuff to go away (it usually does).

Find out where the city councilmen live. Their neighborhoods get plowed nearly immediately. Run there and quit whining.

A state rep lives on my street. I never loose a mile due to snow. It's usually gone the next day. It's true I have to run this 2 mile loop like an idiot for a couple of days till the bike paths get cleared.

I've been running 70 mile weeks down at Harvard since September, and we don't see a whole lot of trails in Cambridge (10 mpw max of trails). I've run the rest on roads, and I'm feeling just fine.

So TrackGuy, seems the consensus is you should have got out in the snow and run like a lot of others on the board. Did you?

Running on the treadmill is a worthless workout. All you do is lift your legs up and down, it is not the same as running and pushing off of the roads. Treadmills are for people who are lazy and don't want to get a run in outside. Running in the snow will make you stronger.