Blood, Sweat & Frosty Eye Lashes

Angie and I braved old man winter yester and got a tough 15 miles in.  It was slow, steady and quite uncomfortable.  I'm really into endurance running.  In fact, I crave a good long, hard, exhausting run, but yesterday it was just difficult, physically and mentally.

 

I'm still nervous about cold weather running after my birthday run but I won't let that get in the way of our training.  We simply have to get these miles in if we are going to be ready for our 50k in early May.  I think the cold weather running is just another way to test our devotion to running and make us push ourselves to the limits.

 

Running in 5 degree temps is not for wimps.  The first 6 were decent but not as enjoyable as a nice 45 degree weather day.  We both felt good, but we knew we had a long ways to go, so we kept at a slower pace to ensure we could finish.  We stopped 6 miles in to go to the bathroom and warm up. 

 

Neither one of us were too excited to be out in the cold.  After warming up, it was so difficult to go back outside in the cold temps.  Our clothes and gloves were wet from sweat and putting our gloves back on and going into the cold was miserable.  I know I need to order a new pair of gloves that are warmer.  Luckily I had a set of hand warmers along for emergencies.  (Smartest thing ever!).  I had to use them yesterday and they really made a world of difference.  I started to get the cold painful numbness I had before, so I didn't waste too much time and used them.  My hands warmed up quickly and I had no significant discomfort like the time we had to quit running.  I'll be keeping a pack of those in my running pack at all times in the winter.  So worth it. 

 

Besides the cold temps, the roads were covered with a light dusting of snow, which was over harder packed down snow and some ice.  Neither one of us really like to wear Trax on our shoes for long runs because they alter our stride a little.  I knew I had to wear mine today because there is no way I could run 15 miles on snow covered ice roads.  So, 15 full miles in Trax it was.  They were amazing.  They proved to be very beneficial.  I really didn't notice they were on my feet.  I didn't have any discomfort besides the normal aches and pains of a 15 mile run.

 

 



90% of our run was on snowy roads like this.  Gorgeous. . . . but made for a pretty tough  run.



If I move to Canada I would hardly ever have to curl my lashes or wear masacara!  Does this equal BAD ASS? I think so.

 

 



One major challenge of running in 5 degree weather is frozen water bottles.  Normally on a summer day, if we were running 15 miles we would have 4 -10oz water bottles and we would stop to refill at a gas station to ensure we had enough to last until we were done.  Today. . . . . I'm shocked to say I had less than 6 oz. of water. . . . THE ENTIRE 15 miles.  I don't know that I've ever worked out that long with such little fluid intake.  Not great.  The problem is that my bottles were frozen and it was too much work to try and open them.  We did stop once to open them because we were both feeling exhausted and dehydrated.  That is when Angie suffered a major running injury. . . . . . . she cut her finger with ice from her frozen water bottle.  BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!!!  Just kidding.  She was fine, but just annoyed.  We drank whatever water wasn't frozen and impossible to access (not much!)

We are looking forward to a cut back week next week.  Fingers crossed the next Polar Vortex is done by Saturday.  We only have to run 13 miles, but that is not something I would look forward to on a treadmill.  I'm going to have to find another series to watch this week because it looks like I'll be on the treadmill a little and I only have one episode of Orange Is The New Black left to watch!

What kinds of tricks do you have for beating the freezing temps?  How cold does it have to be for  you to stay in and get your miles in on the dreadmill?  Any recommendations for a new series for me to watch on Netflix?

Happy Winter Running.  Stay warm!
~Brooke~