As I type this at my dining room table (my husband has to work from home, so has taken over the office) Buffalo, NY is in “Phase One” of re-opening after the Coronavirus outbreak.

My daughter and her family have been stuck here. The island in the Caribbean where they live has shut down (with the airport closed) and they won’t be able to get back until June. They came for a visit in March and weren’t able to leave.

I have been solidly running during this time, with my 2 year old grand daughter asking me every time I put on my sneakers if I am “going out for a run”, lol. I can’t wait until she is old enough to join me.

Posts that I was “supposed” to do were irrelevant. Choosing a running shoe is not possible if you follow my number one advice which is go to a running store. Another one on using the Hansons Marathon Method doesn’t work because my marathon was cancelled, and I decided to stop training for one.

A lot of runners are still training for the races they were signed up for, even though they can’t run them.

For some, it is just wanting to keep up the schedule. For others, races are holding them virtually with participants uploading proof they ran the distance on their own.

I had the choice of running my race later this year (postponed from May) or deferring to next year. I chose to race next year.

So this is just a quick post on what I’m doing currently with no races in sight for the foreseeable future.

3 Week Cycle

I’ve put together a 3 week cycle of training for myself that cuts my running days down to 5 from 6, and my longest run is 14 miles. I’m running anywhere from 40-50 miles per week depending on which week of the cycle I’m in and incorporating one day of “speed work” (usually a tempo run) to keep my fast twitch muscles fresh!

My son, who doesn’t run, is training for a 1.5 mile fitness test for a job and so my coaching certification is coming in handy! I’m really enjoying running with him and have set up a schedule for him to follow to get him where he needs to be.

The other benefit of coaching him, besides just being able to hang out, is I get in some miles with him and then add more with my husband later in the day or by myself.

These “two a day” runs are really fun for me. It gives me the mileage I want, but in a more relaxed way since I am not training for anything.

Today I have a 10 miler on the schedule, so I will run with Ryan for 2 miles slowly. After dropping him off at home I will go out for another 3.

Later today, when my husband can join me I’ll do 5 easy with him.

City Running

In NY if we can’t social distance, we need to wear a mask. Even if it is just around the neck and then pull it up if needed. We have avoided having to pull them up very much by running in areas that have little foot traffic. The parks and other pedestrian areas that we usually run are LOADED with people.

We are getting to know Buffalo even better by keeping to the streets in less busy areas. I have always found that to be super fun for some reason. It is one of the first things I do when we go somewhere new…go for a run and get the lay of the land.

Before we moved to the city, we knew where things were by destination. Taking the same routes over and over to get to this park or that restaurant, most of it by thruway. Now we know how to get all around using city streets and we are continually amazed at how things are configured!

Without a race to train for, I have been taking a relaxed approach to running while still keeping it up and enjoying my city. I hope you are able to find the joy in the run and are continuing to look for ways to keep it up.

If you are new to the sport (and there are a lot of new runners out there because of the lockdowns around the world) and have some questions, please shoot me an email (sherry@wrinkledrunner.com). I would love to help you!