The winter training that was not

Memories of last year, running through snow and ice, played in my head as I trained in the relatively warmer and definitely drier mornings throughout this winter.
One day, it was 17 degrees when I went out to do my hill sprints. Another, it was in the low 20s when I did my Saturday long run, forcing me to break out the running tights for the first time since the half marathon.

Other than that, temperatures were mostly in the 30s and only occasionally in the upper 20s for almost all my runs.

Snow? Barely any at all. We had one day of snowfall in late January. I did my 13-mile run that day slowly, casually, taking pictures along the way. By mid-week, the snow was gone. Aside from a brief flurry in February, we have seen none since.

Even now, as I type this, I am sitting outside on a mid-March day. While it is windy, it is sunny and warm, in the 60s.

The effects this has had on my training are two-fold - one positive, one negative:

On the plus side, it has allowed me to better perform my "quality" training. The alternating Wednesdays of hill sprints, 800 meter speed intervals on the track, and 35 to 45 minute tempo runs.

I hate doing as many as eight hill sprints in a training session, but they are effective. Unlike in 2010, when training for Boston, I was able to do them on dry ground, instead of slipping and sliding on ice. As for the track, obviously, it is a heck of a lot easier to do 3:03 repeats when the track is not covered with a blanket of snow. And the tempo runs, which I do on the trail, are much easier for footing when I can actually see the ground.
Not to mention, of course, that the average mid-30s temperatures were ideal for all of this.

The downside? Without the snow and ice and other elements to slow me down, I have been in constant, full-force mode, always pushing myself to the brink of my abilities and the edge of injury simply because I can. That was why the snowy day was a welcome relief. It gave me the permission to slow down, which is really what I should be doing on my long runs and mid-week shorter runs. Instead of saving the speed for the speed days, I have just been cranking them out, one after another.

Yet I know I should think the better of it. With only four weeks until the Gansett Marathon, now is NOT the time to get injured.