Jump to content

Bloop

A group blog by Bloop in General

  • entries
    1,154
  • comments
    10,471
  • views
    109,905

Contributors to this blog

Weather or Not

Runnerguymark

Entry posted by Runnerguymark

1,552 views

 Share

Back in the days when I coached cross country one of the first things I addressed, at the start of the first practice, was weather and the cancellation policy. Basically the policy went like this: If the weather is bad enough to cancel a meet, then practice is cancelled. I left the parents an out (we're talking about fourth through eighth graders), but in five years of coaching I never cancelled a practice, and I only remember ending one early once.

CEGVTHwUUAAGFST.jpg.07af60f051738eeb11ece07558cba33f.jpg

The point: I was going to be there for whoever wanted to practice. In secret I always hoped for one bad weather day early in the season, just to see who showed up. Those were gonna be the ones I could count on when needed, the ones who would do whatever they had to to succeed.

This week I got the chance to apply the same reasoning to myself. I'm finally making a comeback after a couple years of injury, indifference, and other life stuff, and so far things have gone well. I'm in week ten of a fifteen week half marathon training cycle and have been hitting mileages and speeds I haven't seen in a while. Then came Wednesday: speed work, which as many of you know is my favorite something I wish I could live without. I also knew the weather forecast called for showers later in the morning, but if I went out now I should be able to get the workout in. Sounded like a good plan.

Someone didn't check the radar.

I ran a ten minute warmup, then launched into the first of the speed segments, 5 minutes at 5k pace. About a minute in I felt the first drops. By three minutes in it was raining pretty heavily, enough so that the rain drops that were getting in my mouth were causing me to cough. I finished the first segment and just about called the workout when I had several thoughts at once:

  1. The nearest possible shelter was about half a mile away, the dugouts at the softball fields in the park where I was running
  2. I'm already soaked
  3. WHAT WOULD THE CROSS COUNTRY KIDS SAY??!

So I finished the workout. I even hit the proper times for the speed segments.

Thursday I had a couple short slow runs on the schedule for recovery, managed to get rained on during both of them.

Today, fourteen miles...in the rain.

Tomorrow is a day off to drive to Georgia for a college visit where my son wants to go to school.

I'd like to get a run in Sunday to take a look at the campus. The forecast says....

  • Like 8
 Share

14 Comments

Recommended Comments

TreeGirl

My sons cross country coach only canceled once in 4 years.  6” sloppy wet fall snow storm and he was worried the kids would be twisting their ankles constantly. Nice job getting it done on the rain!  Safe travels to Georgia! 😎

Link to comment
Riggers

Good job pushing through. I always get mad at the kids who win (or make varsity) who don't put in the work. It doesn't feel like they 'deserve' it. I assume the lack of work ethic will catch up to them sooner or later. My girls get up and run every day rain or shine! They are so dedicated I have to FORCE them to take breaks in the off-season as the coach suggests. (He doesn't want them to run 'every day' for about a month after xc season and again after track season.)

Link to comment
amarie2009

As long as there is no lightning and no ice, it's good enough to run. (or flooding, or deep snow) A couple coworkers complimented me just today on my dedication. 

Link to comment
StinaQ

The forecast says: Looks like a good day to run ;-)

My boyfriend told me I had finished my run just before the rain came. 

I told him rain doesn't matter. 

Speedwork is my favorite too.  

Link to comment
Flying Tomato

Had the same thoughts before my ride today.  I am already wet so who cares if it is raining.  Where is your son looking at in GA?

Link to comment
Bonnie_777

Getting  out the door when it is rainy is hard for me, but once I am out there, rain doesn't bother me.  Way to get your speed work done!

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...