Snow, snow, bloody snow...

If I remember correctly, in the Young Ones the above quote was attributed to Vyvyan when presented with "risotto" to eat by Neil the hippy when they were skint.  It could also be attributed to me when I looked out of the window at work and saw it hossing down this afternoon.

Still, the running stuff was by my desk, I have a posh waterproof and what's more I had some company in the persons of Rich and (unusually) The Herb (who just seems to cycle every day these days).  Given the company, and given the hard session last night the idea today was to get some steady miles in.  That suited all of us for different reasons - Hinsley because he's chasing sub-40 at Dewsbury on Sunday, Herb because he's still recovering from a 3 year old injury and me because I needed an easy session.

Bingley local Mr Hinsley planned the route, which had to be on road as it was dark by the time we set off, and was still chucking a fair amount of snow down.  There was perhaps half an inch underfoot, so no problems with grip, but it was a pain when running into the wind as big flakes kept going in my eyes.  I discovered a cycling type drafting technique of tucking in behind The Herb which made it tolerable.  We ended up somewhere near the Fisherman's pub on the canal then ran back through Bingle to work.  The lads finished here with 5m on the clock, but the marathon man had more to do, so I ran up to Riddlesden and back to give myself a round 8 miles.  Pace very slow at 8:30 average but HR way down averaging 118 which is under 70% max.

What's good is that a run like this was enjoyable and felt very easy, but these are decent quality miles in the bank.  Track tomorrow, where I'll try out my new Speedstars, which I think may be the race shoe for the rest of the campaign and the Big Day, as they're well padded but noticeably lighter than my Cumulus.