I slept in a little, I got up, I ate breakfast, I let it digest, I ran outside, I was miserable... Toughest and least enjoyable run in a long time.
Yesterday's forecast for today was for winds in the morning, letting up by the afternoon. Running in the afternoon largely means using up the whole day (since I know myself too well to think that I'll do housecleaning, etc., before going out) but it didn't sound too bad. Then today dawned, and the forecast was for wind all day long. DH and I talked about going to the University Athletic Centre, or the Y, but in the end decided to run outside as per our original plan. The actual temperature was around -9 and -10 C, wind chill about -20 to -22 C. But we had the clothes, the sun was shining, there was no snow on the ground - how bad could it be?
Bad. It could be bad. Not the ambient temperature, actually. Even with the wind, my body was warm. I was wearing long underwear, and my thicker tights, a long-sleeved shirt under a short-sleeved shirt under my warmer jacket, a balaclava and hat, and my nice new RR gloves that convert to mittens by pulling a flap over the fingers. For just -9 C I was probably a little overdressed - could have left off one shirt and not used the mitten flap - but with the wind I was not. So one positive is that I am learning more about what clothes work at various temperatures.
But the wind. Oh, the wind. It would occasionally die down, but it was blowing most of the time. With lots of gusts. When I got home I checked the weather network, and apparently the wind itself was somewhere around 50 km/hour, with gusts close to 70 km/hour. I believe it. Being such a weather weenie, I don't have a great association between quoted wind speed and how it feels. I just hate the wind in general. Always have. As I have said, thought and wrote many times, the winter wind is the one thing about my adopted city that I pretty much hate without reservation.
So today was tough going. The wind was mostly from the west and the north, so going east or south was often not too bad. Sometimes there was even the benefit of a tail wind. Or course, sometimes it would suddenly gust from the east or the south, a truly unpleasant surprise. Going west or north was largely unalloyed misery. At times the air was calm and it was no big deal. But running into the wind - especially the gusts - or sideways to the wind, was hard. Hard physically and hard mentally. I hate the sound of a heavy wind roaring around my ears, hate trying to keep my face warm against it, hate physically trying to push against it. There were times I had to stop and walk just to get a break, or even stop completely and turn my back. At least those were good chances to blow my ever-dripping nose.
The training plan called for 24 km; I managed 22.75 km in about 2:02. Under normal circumstances I would have made up that extra 1.25 or so km by running around the neighbourhood a bit, but today I reached our driveway and called the 22.75 "good enough". At that point the wind was actually going through one of its calmer phases, but I just didn't have the mental fortitude to deliberately put myself through another 7 minutes or so of unpleasantness when warmth was just a few steps away.
Having said all of that, there are a couple of details that could have made today's run just a little more pleasant. 1) a different balaclava. So far I have tried two, and neither of them really works for me, despite the way they appear to fit in the store. I am a small person and have a relatively small head, and the nose part continually slips down/off. So my face gets cold, especially in the wind. 2) a different hat. Same basic issue. My hat is currently adjusted to be the smallest it will go, and under normal circumstances it stays on okay. Today it got blown off (thereby obliging me to go sprinting after it) so many times I lost count. At least 7 or 8. The last time was into traffic during my last few km before home - oh joy. At least I got it back when the light turned red, not truly any the worse for wear.
When I first left home, the hat and balaclava were tucked nicely into each other and made a really good shield, leaving just my eyes exposed. But after losing the hat the first time, I could never get it back together the same way. Plus, at various times my fingers were getting rather cold. (A couple of years ago I had some mild frostbite shovelling snow, and ever since they get colder sooner than before). Making my hands into fists for a while warmed the fingers back up, but several times I was trying to adjust all this stuff with numb fingers that didn't have such great fine motion control.
Sigh. So I think it's time to acquire yet another balaclava, this time the kid's size. As for the hat - well, I don't really have an answer. Normally I wouldn't have worn my hat, because when it's cold I prefer my ear band. But with the sun, I wanted something to shield my eyes. Sunglasses wouldn't work because I have yet to find a solution to the fogging that happens in cold weather. I guess balaclava + hat + earband could be the answer, but that might be too warm.
Several people on the RR and RM forums have made remarks along the lines of they "love" running in the winter. Clearly they're having a different experience, because so far I am not exactly feeling the love. Between the technical face/head issues, the rather blurred vision due to no glasses, the nose that runs like a faucet, the sport beans that get cold, the masses of frozen ice after a heavy snow - what exactly is there to love?!?!?
But, in the end, I'm glad to have got in the miles and checked one more long run off the calendar. Next weekend is supposed to be 30 km. The long-range forecast currently calls for just below freezing and a little snow. After today, that feels like a cakewalk. But talk to me next weekend ;)
Yesterday's forecast for today was for winds in the morning, letting up by the afternoon. Running in the afternoon largely means using up the whole day (since I know myself too well to think that I'll do housecleaning, etc., before going out) but it didn't sound too bad. Then today dawned, and the forecast was for wind all day long. DH and I talked about going to the University Athletic Centre, or the Y, but in the end decided to run outside as per our original plan. The actual temperature was around -9 and -10 C, wind chill about -20 to -22 C. But we had the clothes, the sun was shining, there was no snow on the ground - how bad could it be?
Bad. It could be bad. Not the ambient temperature, actually. Even with the wind, my body was warm. I was wearing long underwear, and my thicker tights, a long-sleeved shirt under a short-sleeved shirt under my warmer jacket, a balaclava and hat, and my nice new RR gloves that convert to mittens by pulling a flap over the fingers. For just -9 C I was probably a little overdressed - could have left off one shirt and not used the mitten flap - but with the wind I was not. So one positive is that I am learning more about what clothes work at various temperatures.
But the wind. Oh, the wind. It would occasionally die down, but it was blowing most of the time. With lots of gusts. When I got home I checked the weather network, and apparently the wind itself was somewhere around 50 km/hour, with gusts close to 70 km/hour. I believe it. Being such a weather weenie, I don't have a great association between quoted wind speed and how it feels. I just hate the wind in general. Always have. As I have said, thought and wrote many times, the winter wind is the one thing about my adopted city that I pretty much hate without reservation.
So today was tough going. The wind was mostly from the west and the north, so going east or south was often not too bad. Sometimes there was even the benefit of a tail wind. Or course, sometimes it would suddenly gust from the east or the south, a truly unpleasant surprise. Going west or north was largely unalloyed misery. At times the air was calm and it was no big deal. But running into the wind - especially the gusts - or sideways to the wind, was hard. Hard physically and hard mentally. I hate the sound of a heavy wind roaring around my ears, hate trying to keep my face warm against it, hate physically trying to push against it. There were times I had to stop and walk just to get a break, or even stop completely and turn my back. At least those were good chances to blow my ever-dripping nose.
The training plan called for 24 km; I managed 22.75 km in about 2:02. Under normal circumstances I would have made up that extra 1.25 or so km by running around the neighbourhood a bit, but today I reached our driveway and called the 22.75 "good enough". At that point the wind was actually going through one of its calmer phases, but I just didn't have the mental fortitude to deliberately put myself through another 7 minutes or so of unpleasantness when warmth was just a few steps away.
Having said all of that, there are a couple of details that could have made today's run just a little more pleasant. 1) a different balaclava. So far I have tried two, and neither of them really works for me, despite the way they appear to fit in the store. I am a small person and have a relatively small head, and the nose part continually slips down/off. So my face gets cold, especially in the wind. 2) a different hat. Same basic issue. My hat is currently adjusted to be the smallest it will go, and under normal circumstances it stays on okay. Today it got blown off (thereby obliging me to go sprinting after it) so many times I lost count. At least 7 or 8. The last time was into traffic during my last few km before home - oh joy. At least I got it back when the light turned red, not truly any the worse for wear.
When I first left home, the hat and balaclava were tucked nicely into each other and made a really good shield, leaving just my eyes exposed. But after losing the hat the first time, I could never get it back together the same way. Plus, at various times my fingers were getting rather cold. (A couple of years ago I had some mild frostbite shovelling snow, and ever since they get colder sooner than before). Making my hands into fists for a while warmed the fingers back up, but several times I was trying to adjust all this stuff with numb fingers that didn't have such great fine motion control.
Sigh. So I think it's time to acquire yet another balaclava, this time the kid's size. As for the hat - well, I don't really have an answer. Normally I wouldn't have worn my hat, because when it's cold I prefer my ear band. But with the sun, I wanted something to shield my eyes. Sunglasses wouldn't work because I have yet to find a solution to the fogging that happens in cold weather. I guess balaclava + hat + earband could be the answer, but that might be too warm.
Several people on the RR and RM forums have made remarks along the lines of they "love" running in the winter. Clearly they're having a different experience, because so far I am not exactly feeling the love. Between the technical face/head issues, the rather blurred vision due to no glasses, the nose that runs like a faucet, the sport beans that get cold, the masses of frozen ice after a heavy snow - what exactly is there to love?!?!?
But, in the end, I'm glad to have got in the miles and checked one more long run off the calendar. Next weekend is supposed to be 30 km. The long-range forecast currently calls for just below freezing and a little snow. After today, that feels like a cakewalk. But talk to me next weekend ;)
posted by Jogger Barbie | 9:36 PM
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