I ran this morning in the coldest conditions I decided to venture out in – 2 degrees with a cold wind.
I ordered a new running hat and running gloves, put on my compression socks, running pants, long sleeve Under Armour shirt, Puma hoodie and running jacket and headed out.
Nothing in me wanted to go out in the cold – I hate the cold. I did it anyway because I wanted to run – but I looked for any and all excuses not to go. It was a good run and one that taught me a few things. The start of a cold run sucks but once I got a bit of a sweat going it was pretty comfortable. Secondly I was focusing on extending my hip flexors in a larger range of motion – this helped to keep my landing foot in line with my core.
My run felt fast but I didn’t wear a watch – it just felt good. Good technique, good breathing, and good temperature.
I have been running shorter distances recently – I think I have been nervous about the cold and have wanted to not get up at 4am to run.
I still plan on running 40k this year – next weekend I am doing my SCUBA open water test so it is a write off – I may have to run 40k in November. I can manage the cold based on today’s run and I think my feet are ready for the distance. Only 1 way to find out.
After my 40k I am going to focus on my 50 mile strategy of running for 10 miles then walking for 1 to recover.