Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Running When Water Freezes
Today's Run: 3.0
Run Time: 33:34
Total Miles to Date: 902.3 miles
Thoughts on the Run:
Today I had my opportunity to run in the bitter cold. My apologies (and respect) to those of you who consistently run in sub-freezing weather. This was one of my firsts.
I had every excuse to skip this run in the morning. When I woke up, I was extremely tired and felt like I hadn't had enough rest. My muscles still ached from my previous runs and workouts, and above all, I knew it was only about 28 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
Fortunately, a little exercise I learned long ago and invoked yesterday helped me muster the courage to go out. I advertised my feat ahead of time, and bragged that I would brave the great outdoors ... after telling so many people, I had some accountability.
So I threw on my essential running gear:
The run itself started off fine. I was nice and warm in my clothes despite that it was just below freezing. I am fortunate in that my course has a very large hill I start out on, so warming up was easy. My biggest challenge running in the cold is the cold air - in the past it has burned and caused me to cough and had respiratory issues after cold runs. For some interesting reason it hasn't been happening to me at all this year and I breathed fine.
I rounded it out with a solid pace - no sprinting but I wasn't running a race.
After, I had breakfast, and I wanted to share a few more tips. We found a place near our house that makes fresh-milled whole grain bread. They don't purchase the flower but actually mill the fresh grains so it's about as fresh as you can get for bread. I toast this ... but the eggs, oh, the eggs! I put one whole egg and two whole eggs and scramble them with chipotle-flavored Tabasco sauce. The two tricks I've learned with eggs:
That's it for now, off to an abundant day ... thanks to my accountability partners for being there in spirit and helping to encourage me to face a new challenge. This was my first run in the freezing that I recall and also I broke 900 miles overall in my training.
Run Time: 33:34
Total Miles to Date: 902.3 miles
Thoughts on the Run:
Today I had my opportunity to run in the bitter cold. My apologies (and respect) to those of you who consistently run in sub-freezing weather. This was one of my firsts.
I had every excuse to skip this run in the morning. When I woke up, I was extremely tired and felt like I hadn't had enough rest. My muscles still ached from my previous runs and workouts, and above all, I knew it was only about 28 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
Fortunately, a little exercise I learned long ago and invoked yesterday helped me muster the courage to go out. I advertised my feat ahead of time, and bragged that I would brave the great outdoors ... after telling so many people, I had some accountability.
So I threw on my essential running gear:
- New Balance shoes
- Long sweat pants
- Simple race t-shirt (I don't know if I own any "real" t-shirts, they are all company or race hand-outs)
- Pull-over (I love pull-overs for cold runs
- Reflector vest (it was dark out there)
- Skull cap (keeps me warm on cold days, blocks the sun from burning my bald head and warm days, and is an instant cool-down when I take it off at the end of my run)
- My i-Pod Shuffle (that's the exact model I found in my stocking Christmas Day)
- The earphones that cover your ear and the bar goes behind the neck, not in front. This keeps me from having something bouncing on my chest, but also serves as ear muffs to keep my ears warm.
- Gloves — this was my biggest piece I was missing before Chrimstas (thanks to my wife and daughter for a simple yet wonderful gift)
- My Garmin GPS, by and far one of the best investments I've made because I can plot any course and track my time just about anywhere, any time (I just wish I had saved more and purchased the model with the heart rate monitor)
The run itself started off fine. I was nice and warm in my clothes despite that it was just below freezing. I am fortunate in that my course has a very large hill I start out on, so warming up was easy. My biggest challenge running in the cold is the cold air - in the past it has burned and caused me to cough and had respiratory issues after cold runs. For some interesting reason it hasn't been happening to me at all this year and I breathed fine.
I rounded it out with a solid pace - no sprinting but I wasn't running a race.
After, I had breakfast, and I wanted to share a few more tips. We found a place near our house that makes fresh-milled whole grain bread. They don't purchase the flower but actually mill the fresh grains so it's about as fresh as you can get for bread. I toast this ... but the eggs, oh, the eggs! I put one whole egg and two whole eggs and scramble them with chipotle-flavored Tabasco sauce. The two tricks I've learned with eggs:
- Cook on low heat ... on 1-10 on a typical electric stove, I use a 3 or 4 ... and then just push/pull the eggs with the spatula ... this makes for fluffy, creamy eggs
- For extracting the egg whites, crack the egg in half and hold over a bowl, then play hot potato with the yolk - seriously, dump from one eggshell to the other back and forth. The yolk stays in the game, the white drains into the bowl
That's it for now, off to an abundant day ... thanks to my accountability partners for being there in spirit and helping to encourage me to face a new challenge. This was my first run in the freezing that I recall and also I broke 900 miles overall in my training.
Labels: cooking eggs, egg whites, running in the cold
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