Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend full of adventure, relaxation, and everything in between! Our winter weekend escape started on Friday with a five + hour drive northwest of Boston to the Adirondacks (Tupper Lake, NY to be exact!). For the majority of the country, this might be a typical weekend drive- but for us New Englanders, it felt like we were on an cross-continental expedition. :)
The weekend was centered around ice fishing on Tupper Lake, which we did for most of the day on Saturday. We stayed at my friend Jon’s childhood home positioned right on the lake, and set up our ice fishing camp close by.
The ice fishing quarters:
We drilled holes in the ice to catch the fish, which were mostly northern pike:
We nestled in the tent and on occasion glanced at the holes to see if a flag raised on the tip ups. I was introduced to an interesting game called “Cheers Governor”, and that is all I will say about that.
We eventually caught a fish (we threw it back!):
We had a lot of fun out on the ice:
The evening capped off with a beautiful Adirondack sunset (over some wet ice after a rainfall):
Earlier in the day, I was able to get out on the slippery snow-covered ice and and run for an hour thanks to borrowed Yaktrax (thanks Angela!). It was a great way to explore the lake a little more by foot, and although was a much slower pace than pavement-running, I enjoyed the variety!
Now it is less than a week until my goal race! I am getting very excited, starting to envision race day, my pacing plan (more on that in another post), and crossing that finish line. However, I am a little nervous about the “higher than usual” race day temperatures mentioned in an email from the race committee. I am going to keep my eye on the forecast this week, but may have to alter my race-day goals if the forecast remains hotter than normal.
Workouts for the week include:
Tuesday: 5 miles + stride-outs
Wednesday: 6 miles with last 2 at MP
Thursday: Rest or 30-45 minutes of cross training (flying this day)
Friday: Rest or 20-30 minutes shake-out run
Saturday: RACE!!!
I will be in touch! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! :)
How was your weekend? Any outdoor adventures/fun runs/tough runs?
Have you been ice fishing before?
Thoughts on Yaktrax (or similar gear)?
Anyone gearing up for a race? How are you feeling about it?
Jane Runs Wild 
Looks like you had a nice vacation! It was February break, and since my husband and I are both teachers, we had the week off as well! We took a mid week trip to New Hampshire for a little relaxation. I’ve ice fished before, but it’s been awhile!
We had warm weather this weekend ( 40’s both days!) which was great for my long run and recovery run. Instead of yaktrax, I have a pair of sneakers with sheet metal screws in them, they work like a charm on ice and snow! Have a good week! Also, I’m enjoying my Spibelt!
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Interesting system you have with the metal screws! So glad you’re enjoying the SPIbelt! Thoughts on the water bottle? To be honest, I haven’t used it a lot lately as I’ve needed to bring more water than that with me given that the water fountains aren’t operating in the winter!
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I liked having the water bottle, it’s a little hard to drink from, you get a quick burst of water, but not quite a much as I’d like for a drink, so I’ve got to give it 2 good squeezes for a proper mouthful!
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I haven’t been to Tupper Lake in years, but it is a beautiful part of the country. It is about 4 hours from where I live in Upstate NY. Haven’t been ice fishing. Even though I live in the Northeast, winter is not my favorite season for outdoor activities.
I had a great run last night, (details in my Blog).
Good luck on your Race Week preps. Can’t wait to read all about how well you do.
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Thank you so much, fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly (it never does though! :)). Great run last night! Talk soon.
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It seems so cold. All my life I’ve been living in tropical countries and only visiting four- seasons during the milder seasons. I’m preparing for Tokyo Marathon this Sunday and this is the lowest temperature ever in my life. The forecast will be 0 with real feel of -3 in the morning and 7 on the peak temp. They also said that there would be drizzle in the morning. My lowest running temp was 15, and it was sunny. I hope I can manage this. Any inputs?
Btw, I love your blog… it’s really amusing…
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Thanks for stopping by! GOOD LUCK this weekend! That’s so exciting, I would love to run the Tokyo Marathon one day! They say that running in cooler weather will result in better finish times, check out this runners connect article: http://runnersconnect.net/marathon-training/ideal-marathon-temperature/. Looking forward to hearing how the race goes!
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Beautiful pics! I’ve always wanted to go to the Adirondacks! I’ve never used Yaktrax but I told my husband I need to invest in a pair because I was so over treadmill running this winter.
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Thank you! It’s beautiful up there. You should try out yaktrax- think you’ll enjoy them!
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While you were playing on the ice it was 80 freaking degrees down in Texas!!! hahaha!!!
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Hope you are enjoying the hot weather– very jealous, although tough for running (long runs at least!). Good luck!
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Girl I run in all types of weather. Texas runners are tough!! I could not run in the ice or ice skate like tho you do up there!! ;)
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Oh and it’s not hot anymore…it doesn’t get REAL hot til summer…temps are in the 40s and 50s today! Read my post and I explain about it in further detail.
Good luck on your upcoming race!! You race a ton like me…I’m surprised you’re not a maniac yet…come over to the dark side, you know you want to.
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We’ve had a really mild winter in London, UK, and so running has been fairly simple. This weekend I enjoyed a half marathon event taking in my favourite royal palace!
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That’s awesome, sounds like a fun race! Lucky to have had a mild winter in London as well. Hope the week post-race has been great so far!
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I’m yet to run as had busy time at work and with the kids. Got to get out there tonight! Next race in 18 days! Yikes!
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I’m very excited for you! The race will likely be lots of fun. Please hydrate! It’s just different down here in the SouthWest and you may not feel it.
I grew up in Minnesota so I’ve done more ice-fishing than I care to admit. It’s cold but can be beautiful on the ice. Yaktrax work great for that kind of weather. I’ve also really come to love Icebug shoes for their insane grip on snow and ice.
Excited to say I’m official for the ABQ Zoo Half this May and with the coming job/schedule change I think the Deadwood Trail Marathon is a go as well.
See you on the trails!
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Awesome, the Zoo half and Deadwood trail marathon sound so fun! Thanks for your tips- I have been hydrating a ton and will continue until race day. Sounds like the race has a ton of water stops, so I am not too worried. Fingers crossed for mild temps or else I will have to completely modify my plan!
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I have complete faith in you.
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Never gone ice fishing or wore special grips on my shoes for running on ice or snow.
Looks like you had fun and I will Google the game. :)
Good luck in your race. I hope the temp is just right. That is one of my fears with destination races.
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Thank you so much! Hoping the forecast stays in the 50’s and 60’s!
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GOOD LUCK in your race!!! I know I will be freaking out the week before my marathon (I’ve never done one!) I have run in Yak-Traks once (I’m not complaining about not needing them too much) and they were almost like track spikes. I didn’t think they slowed me down at all.
Ice fishing sounds like something I would rather read a blog post about than do myself (so thank you). I’m glad you threw the fish back and didn’t slip on the ice. Have a great week Jane!
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Well, being a Canadian (haha)….Yes I wear Yaktraxs on my runs when it’s really bad road conditions. I’ve been ice fishing but it wasn’t until I was around 24 and worked at an Outdoor Centre, otherwise I’d probably would have never done it. So many people would come up to the camp and want to go Ice Fishing only to get super bored! ha ha.
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I’ve only ever seen ice fishing on television. Interested in your schedule – it helps me to see what other people do.
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Thank you! It was a fun experience- not something that I will do every weekend, but once a winter maybe!
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those are beautiful pictures!
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Phoenix is awesome! If you aren’t too sore (and have time) you should try hiking Camelback or Piestewa Peak, two of my favorite spots for urban hiking when I’m in town! :)
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I have been close to Camelback but haven’t hiked it- it looks gorgeous! Thanks for the tips! I most likely will be too sore to do any hiking, but would love to explore the area a bit more. Let me know if you have any other tips and thanks again! :)
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Beautiful pictures! Good luck in your race this weekend! Hopefully the weather won’t be too warm!
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Thank you so much! I will keep you posted. Hope you’ve had a good week of training!
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A random hello! And a weird question after scrolling through these pictures, a question I’ve never even thought of before: how cold is that fish you’re holding??
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I actually didn’t touch the fish, but apparently it WAS cold. The water was freezing, blanketed by a foot of solid ice! Thanks for stopping by :)
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Ice fishing looks fun- I’ve never been :) I just started running again since having my baby and still can’t commit to any races but I’m hoping to do a local 5K for St Patty’s Day…def won’t be breaking any records but it should still be fun :)
~Julia
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Thanks for your note! A 5k is an awesome goal, and should be fun over St. patty’s day! Looking forward to seeing how training/the race go!
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I am certain that is the first article on ice fishing I have ever read :) sounds like a great weekend and quite a contrast to what’s coming next weekend! Best of luck in Phoenix, enjoy the weather but hydrate a lot…it is really dry, my first marathon was in Tucson and even though we lived there for s while, going back from a cool climate was a huge change up. Look forward to hearing all about it!
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Thank you so much! I have been hydrating every day and will continue until race day! I think that’s my biggest worry- just such a different environment than Boston! Thank you so much for your note and hope you’ve had some good runs this week :)
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Best of luck for your marathon :) I will be cheering you on from afar :) Woo hoo!
I love the tent in your pictures!
A while back, I lived for 1 year in Labrador, Canada. I went ice fishing a couple of times there. It was a popular thing to do. My Labrador winter was cold even by Labrador standards! For 3 or 4 months nearly every day was -40C. I loved getting wrapped up and going out running. I only ever saw one other runner outside during these cold months! I saw plenty of people treadmill running at the gym but not running outside in -40C. Yaktrax are great.
Hugs :)
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looks like such a fun weekend! i’ve camped out on Tupper Lake before and used to volunteer at a camp close by on Saranac — such beautiful country up there. i was supposed to be in Lake Placid 2 weekends ago but it was -25 so we cancelled that! glad you had fun. never gone ice fishing but my parents live on a lake and when the boy and i were there 2 weekends ago (instead of LP) their friends joked we should give it a whirl. good luck race prepping this week!
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Reblogged this on Tour Suggest.
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Beautiful pictures! I enjoy ice fishing – if I have booze.
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