Weekly Workouts and a Weekend Blizzard

This week’s workouts were all about getting ready for the Fred Lebow Half Marathon, my second half marathon in as many weeks that I was using to test my endurance as I look forward to formulating a marathon training plan. Except the Fred Lebow was cancelled on Friday because of the impending blizzard, affectionately known up and down the east coast as Winter Storm Jonas. In the end, I was disappointed that I didn’t get to race, but just because the official race was cancelled didn’t mean I couldn’t still get outside and enjoy the winter wonderland that is Central Park in snow. I took the most gorgeous stroll last January during the so-called Snowpocalypse, and was determined to do the same this time around.

 

 

 

Because I was originally planning to run 13.1 Sunday, I took it easy during the week, with just a few short 4-mile runs to shake out my legs and stay loose.

 

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: 4 miles

Wednesday: 4 miles

Thursday: Rest day

Friday: 4.2 miles

Saturday: Rest day (playing in the snow)

Sunday: 5.4 snowy slow miles

 

In a way, it was probably a silver lining that the race was cancelled, because I made it a pretty light week of workouts and after Florida and the hectic pace of life the last few weeks, I needed the rest. I also wasn’t pushing it too hard during the first week of my elimination diet. The storm also gave me a chance to really disconnect for a day. I like to think I disconnect every time I go for a run, but leaving my phone alone and paying attention to my boyfriend, friends, books, games, movies, the great outdoors, all of it – without feeling the need to glance at the screen – was wonderful. I read an article on Friday about the lack of attention span among people these days, all of us flitting to our phones whenever we have even a second or two of downtime. I already knew I disliked it, but there’s nothing like a blizzard to snap it into focus. While I needed to check a few work emails, and used my phone to take these photos, I was on it way less than I would normally have been, and conscious each time I checked it.

 

 

 

 

Saturday morning, after a lazy look out the window at the swirling snowflakes, we decided to bundle up and make the trip to one of my favorite places in my neighborhood for brunch, the Sarabeth’s in Carnegie Hill. Walking up Fifth Avenue next to Central Park as the snow continued to fall was wonderful. The city was so much quieter than usual, and when we got to Sarabeth’s I was shocked. There’s usually a line out the door and down Madison Avenue on Saturday mornings, from 8am until the late afternoon. But when we arrived there were only a few tables taken and we were seated right away and brought steaming cups of coffee. The ham, potato and leek omelet and apple chicken sausage with fresh apple butter I polished off hit the spot.

 

 

 

 

On the walk back from Carnegie Hill (the upper Upper East Side) to the East 70s, we stopped in at La Maison du Chocolate to pick up a few treats to tide us over for the storm. Dark chocolate truffles with raspberry ganache or infused with Russian tea, anyone? Then we took a stroll in the park past a few of the sledding hills and regretted not picking one up. Sledding was always so much fun when I was little 🙂

 

 

 

 

There’s something magical about Central Park while the snow is actually coming down. It’s like walking in a winter wonderland, flakes falling and resting on your eyelashes. The blanket of white lasts in the park, rather than becoming gray and black on the rest of New York City’s streets, but what’s lost after the storm is that veil of white, which looking through is like looking through a frosted glass. Especially in the evening, after the sun sets and it’s just the lights on the park paths illuminating a white world, it’s like nothing else I’ve ever seen. I love the snowy woods on a New England evening just as much, but I’ll never stop feeling like a kid again every time I experience this magic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever had a race cancelled due to winter weather?

 

Do you prefer outdoor winter activities or curling up with cocoa by the fire?

 

Favorite way to enjoy a snowy day?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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