Iced In

Unlike the last cold spell which affected mainly the eastern part of the island, the present one dumped most of its load on the West and this time it's our roads that are converted into ice rinks. I cannot overstate how unusual this is. This is my eighth winter here in Kerry; until a year ago, I had seen snow here only once and that was gone within a day. Now we're in the middle of the third Big Freeze in 12 months, and for the third time the powers that be are completely unprepared and unable to cope. I just laugh when they say on the news that they have to stop treating secondary roads – the 5 miles between here and Killorglin have not seen a single grain of salt or grit, ever, and it's left to us to cope. The fact that there is no complete carnage on the roads is a tribute to drivers here. As much as I moan about the ones that can't be bothered to leave more than a couple of inches of space when overtaking or can't be bothered to dip their headlights in the dark for a mere cyclist, the majority is obviously able to manage highly dangerous road conditions for weeks just fine.

Anyway, we woke yesterday to yet more snow. This turned out to be a godsend. I set off for my long run at about 7:30 in the morning, planning to run the road to Killorglin and then somehow come up with a second loop to make up the miles. The road was covered in maybe an inch of fresh snow, covering the ice from the day before and it was only this new layer that rendered the surface runnable. I pondered which route to take and then decided to run around the lake after all. This turned out to be an inspired choice. While I kept running on virginal roads, the Killorglin road was made more and more impassable by every passing car, compacting the snow into perfectly flat and extremely slippery ice. I, on the other hand, really got to enjoy the scenery. The area is stunning as it is, but a layer of fresh and untouched snow added yet a new dimension to it, it was just breathtakingly beautiful. It took 14.84 miles (yes, I checked the Garmin) to come across the first other human being on my run (and that was a boy racer in his souped up car, obviously trying to find a quiet spot for spinning his wheels). The distance did not bother me, I was still feeling fine after 18 miles, but I was surprised to find the HR so high. I'm sure the running surface added a bit, but I'm also still affected by that bug I caught last week.

There was no further snowfall last night and this morning I was left to find some runnable road surface. The road into Killorglin was out and I decided to try my luck alongside Caragh Lake again. It was probably the best choice available. Parts of the road were clear, some were icy and on some I could still see my footprints from the day before! It was borderline, but as mentioned before, if in doubt I always go running. After 12 miles I started to feel rather low. My suspicion is that I ran low on glycogen – after yesterday's long run I may have been starting out with partially empty stores, especially since my appetite isn't great at the moment and the last 2 miles home were a bit of a drag. For once I was glad to be done, something I have not had to say for quite some time.

Say, is this normal or is it just our kids that are apparently unable to cope with Christmas? They know Santa is watching but they are constantly fighting, hurting, punching, screaming, crying, .... Niamh is seriously considering chucking out the presents and replacing them with a lump of coal and it has been the same every Christmas since ... since they have been old enough to misbehave, really.

18 Dec

18.1 miles, 2:24:27, 7:58 pace, HR 148

19 Dec

14.25 miles, 1:50:40, 7:45 pace, HR 145

Weekly Mileage: 83+ miles