Short Run Day

I was feeling pretty sluggish today and only ran 3 miles on the treadmill.  Maybe it was the nasty windy weather or just stress from my life in general.  I had hoped to run a little longer but decided to stick with my plan of alternating a short run with a longer one.  Hoping for a longer one tomorrow.  The way the wind is blowing it will probably also be on the treadmill just like today.  It just isn't the same as running outdoors, but at least I do feel like I got a good workout.  


It's in the low 30's and blowing about 40 miles an hour out there.  I think I will leave the bike here in my hotel room tonight too.  Tomorrow will be two weeks from the day that I start my bike ride to Palmer.  I hope I start out with a tailwind!  

Windy Windy Windy!

Gotta laugh at myself today.  I was so ambitious.  I saw the wind sock sticking straight out, but decided to ride the 5 miles down to my favorite running spot and then run, then ride back.  It was in the 30's and blowing some horrendous amount, so by the time I had made it 1/4 mile I turned the bike around and parked it.  That was obnoxious!  Then I drove down to my spot and managed to run for 5 miles.  I had hoped to run longer, but it was beating me down.  I did get a great workout though.  Freezing in one direction and thawing out in the other direction. 

A good run sure lifts the spirits no matter how weird the weather might be.

5 Miles on the Haul Road

It was in the 30s today and windy as usual.  I drove down the road 22 miles and ran along the Haul Road by the pond with the sign that says Caren Pond.  My little pond!  It was sunny down there, even though probably just as cold, and certainly just as windy.  But I had a nice 5 mile run up and down the side of the road. It was a bit too nasty for biking so I will just ride back and forth to work tonight.  Maybe tomorrow the fog and cold and wind will be gone and I can do a nice long bike ride.  It is starting to dry out so the road is better for riding than the last couple of weeks. The Haul Road was in excellent condition.  I can't wait to do my bike ride home to Palmer.

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Wind Dust Mud - Grit in my Teeth!

Yesterday and today have been just terrible for getting any kind of workout.  I work all night and sleep from 7 am to 2 pm.  But both days I got no sleep at all.  They weren't emergency phone calls but were important enough that I am glad I answered them.  I have been awake over 48 hours now and still have to go to work tonight!  I keep wanting to turn my phone off but with my mom just moving to assisted care, I know I need to be there if she needs me.  So I am learning to live on no sleep!

I tried to ride yesterday but they had just graded the road and the water truck had just gone by.  My poor bike nearly sank into the mud.  Today was a bit better although still tough riding.  But I did ride about 5 miles to and from the Prudhoe Bay General Store.  I needed to pick up some bear spray and some heavy duty rain gear in case on my long ride south I encounter one of the torrential downpours that like to come rolling through.  I don't want to get completely soaked, and I find that my Gortex stuff tends to fall down if it rains too hard.

It was pretty windy riding the bike today and as the trucks went by, they spattered me with a combination of dust and mud.  I have lots of grit in my teeth now!  I suppose that is good training for riding the Dalton Highway in a couple of weeks.  The conditions on that rough gravel road will likely be more challenging than the distance and hills that I will encounter.

The sun is up 24 hours these days, the clouds this morning brought a little color, even though it really was neither sunrise or sunset at 3 am.  Caught this shot with my iPhone from the window of the Flight Service Station where I work.

Great Workout

Today is what I want to do every day until my big ride from here to Palmer.  I rode my bike about 5 miles to the south to my favorite running trail.  Then I ran for 5 miles, then rode the bike back.  I got some of both running and riding into the same workout.  It was nice that the weather was good and not too windy.  There was some wind, making the ride back a little more challenging than the ride down.  But still great practice.  I love running out there on the tundra.  No cars, no trucks, no dust, and luckily - no bears either.  I have a 20 mile view in all directions there and I maintain a scan of the horizon with the same vigilance that I use scanning the sky for other traffic when I am flying my plane.  If I see a bear, I can quickly return to my bike and get out of there.  It was 51 degrees with only 11 knots of wind.  Really nice for the Arctic.

Here is a shot of my bike with the frozen lake, note the handlebar streamers blowing in the wind!

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Great Ride - Great Run

Today was fantastic!  51 degrees only a 10 knot wind and bright sunny skies.  It doesn't get any better than that!  Up here on the Arctic Slope anyway.  I rode my bike about 2 hours, and stopped at the Prudhoe Bay General store for some sun block.  I bet that doesn't happen up here very often.  Then I rode around the lake and up some of the muddy side roads.  It was a great workout and I didn't even have to half freeze to death riding into the wind.

After I cooled down, I drove 4 miles down the Dalton Highway to my favorite running spot, a little side road that goes down to the Sagavanirktok River.  I ran there for just 30 minutes, about 3 miles.  I could see that it was not just MY favorite spot, but perhaps the favorite spot of someone else.  Mr. Bear.

I found these tracks by my car, but the fellow who made them was long gone.

I hope the weather stays like this so I can continue to get good workouts in the great outdoors instead of the boring old treadmill.

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Biked Around the Lake

Finally, a day nice enough to get in some bike riding.  I rode around Colleen Lake, a nice 5 mile ride.  It was kind of perfect bike riding weather, 41 degrees, 15 knots of wind, and bright gorgeous sunshine.  For a minute there I didn't know I was still in Deadhorse.  Colleen Lake is still mostly iced over, but there are areas of open water now.  A few geese flew by as I was riding.  The road is very similar to the Dalton Highway, so it is a really good place to practice.  Lots of loose rocks and areas of soft gravel and lots of mud.  I got back covered with mud, so I knew it was just like the Dalton Highway.  I expect to be totally covered with mud by the time I get to Fairbanks in July.  I'm hoping I will be able to ride around Deadhorse a lot during the next mongh so I will be in good bike riding shape for my Prudhoe to Palmer cancer ride.

I had hoped to get in some running but unfortunately, I spent most of my awake time today making multiple phone calls to AT&T tech support because my iPhone was not receiving any of my phone calls.  I think they have finally got that fixed.  I hope to do both a run and a ride each day from now on.