The one thing to remember is that if you step outside and feel warm, you have too many layers on. I step outside, feeling a little chilly and ready to go. I hastily take off my two layers of gloves so I can press the 'start' button on my watch without having my clumsy gloves making it impossible to hit it. As my hands start to freeze, I throw my glove layers back on and start running. My legs are a little heavy because I have two layers of running tights on, and my chest is weighed down by the multiple long-sleeve shirts on under my running jacket. As I pick up the pace slowly, I can feel the frigid air flowing through the little air openings in the tops of my shoes, and my lungs reacting to the change in air temperature coming in. My head starts to itch quite a bit because my hat is really warm and I'm starting to sweat. Now finishing up with the first mile, my left hand is already starting to get cold, my face is stiffening up, and my eyes are getting harder to close shut. By the end of the run my beard will have iced over, my eyelashes will have a layer of ice on them (having also frozen shut once which I then had to fix), both of my hands will be freezing, and I will have sweated through all of my shirts, and the sweat has since frozen, making it harder to keep me warm. Want to know the best thing though?
I loved every single second of it.
The other day I found myself running my favorite gravel road. I work at a Bible Camp in rural Garrison, ND called Camp of the Cross. To get to the camp there is a 5.5 mile gravel road, and it's the only road leading into the camp since the lake blocks the camp to the south. Basically it's the only way to get in- and the only way to get out. So for every run that I do that is less than 11 miles (which is 99% of my runs), my only option is gravel. Every mile there is a 90 degree turn to make, so every out-and-back run that I do I have to run at least a mile north, south, east, and west. On this particular day the temperature was around 0F with a decent west wind, putting the wind chill around -20F. Coming off of an injury where I haven't done much winter running so far, it was a relief to bundle up in running layers and feel that bitter cold on face. I had to run a whole mile directly into the wind, and by the end of that mile my face hurt so bad I had to turn it side-to-side to give different sides of my face breaks (I refuse to wear a facemask). Running up the rolling hills actually becomes difficult because of the number of layers I have on, but that can only come in handy later in track races where I don't have layers on.
I have a theory about running outside in the winter and how it helps. Whenever I have to take time off from running in the winter, I find myself living a 'normal' lifestyle for a while, and I don't end up outside in the cold much at all. Sitting around all day in the warmth of buildings contrasts sharply with the outside cold, and it feels that much colder out. However, after running a couple of days outside in the cold and braving the brutal cold, I don't get cold easily outside anymore. If you have to run into a winter wind and you can survive, walking around all bundled up in jackets and layers is easy. My theory is that it's easier to survive winter cold with a positive attitude by running outside and getting acclimated.
I have another theory. As I mentioned above, in North Dakota winters we put on layers. Then we put on more layers. Then we put on more layers. We even double-up on our socks sometimes. For me, workouts have always been done outside in the winter while in college. Speed, tempos, progressives- it all is run outside in the cold. Having all of those layers, especially when I've sweat through a large portion of them, presents a sizable amount of weight to carry while running, and that can only come in handy during races where all I'm wearing is a light top, short shorts, light socks, and weightless running spikes. Being about as far north as you can be in the continental US makes us deal with the coldest cold, and so we have almost a kind of resistance training. The winter is our resistance training, and you know what?
I love every second of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment