Running The Road Blog

February 8, 2010

When it comes to running in sub 30 deg. temps and especially when it dips below 20 deg. I turn into the biggest wuss you have ever seen. I’m a fair weather runner, between 40 and 70 deg is perfect temps for me with 30 to 40 and 70 to 80 as being tolerable. Anything out of those ranges is getting into, “I don’t want to do this” territory for me. I’d just as soon hit the TM. Saturday in my blog I committed myself and said I was going outside to run Sunday no matter what, but when I looked and saw 9 deg. for the morning temp I was ready to say the heck with commitment and hit the TM for yet another day. I decide to give it a few more hours so I waited until 10:00 AM and checked again and it had gone all the way up to 20 deg. Not very inspiring for a cold weather hater, but was enough to get me into my cold weather running gear and out the door. You would think that with only 4 miles to do I wouldn’t put up such a fuss. Most wouldn’t give 9 deg temps a second thought for a short 4 miler and would probably do it in far less clothing than what I put on.

Cold didn’t use to bother me so much. In my younger years I did a lot of ice fishing. I didn’t have an ice shanty like a lot of people use to get out of the wind and cold. I  had to sit out in the open in one spot for hours and wouldn’t give the freezing temps and wind a second thought, but anymore It just cuts right through me. I do eventually warm up pretty well, but I do have trouble keeping my fingers warm. I’ve tried everything including the little packets that get warm when you shake them. I also wear mittens so I can rub my fingers together and they still get cold. Anyway, I survived my little 4 mile run and felt pretty good when it was all said and done.

Last week I completed 24 miles, the most in quite awhile and did 7 miles Saturday (on the TM of course) which is my longest run since November. My heel is feeling so much better although on  Sundays run it felt more tender than it had all week. Maybe the 7 miles Saturday aggravated it a little. This week is a cut back week, not to recover mileage wise, but to give my heel a break. No need to push things right now and if at anytime this week it still feels like it is getting a little too sore I can cut the run short.

I’m still very optimistic about the heel, but I can tell it’s going to take some time before it’s ready to handle marathon training. In the mean time I’ll continue to work on my base, heel permitting, so that when I’m ready I can go right into marathon training with a fairly solid base.

Enjoy every step!