Saturday, January 9, 2010

Run home

On Thursday, I decided to run home again. I don't why but I really like it when people ask me how far that is and to see their reaction when they realize it's a 25km run. They'll think I'm crazy and to be honest, I sometimes think that myself as well but the experience is definitively worth it. I did go fairly slow with the uneven, sometimes snowy sometimes icy condition.
Hydration has always been a problem for me in the cold of winter with my water bottles freezing. This time I was prepared with a hydration backpack that I tucked under my windbreaker so it kept warm enough not to freeze and ensured that I had a steady supply of hydration, electrolytes and yummy sugars.

I even did a bit of a detour to add an extra 3km to meet my training goal of 28km. My average speed was about 6min/km. I'm not sure I'm totally happy with that but I'll use the poor traction and abundance of traffic lights as an excuse for the somewhat slow performance.

After a strenghtening workout yesterday, today was time for a short tempo run. The weather guys insisted the windchill factor was -27 celsius so I wore an extra fleece layer under my windbreaker and didn't even feel the cold. While my sweat froze in my tuque and gloves, I didn't feel cold at all.
I think I was pretty fast with a 4:56min/km average for the 6.6km. I felt great with no soreness at all in my knees from Thursday's long run. Awesome. Oozie Goodness in the mix.

3 comments:

  1. Good for you - very efficient to get two tasks done at the same time ;)

    Do you not find the hose for your hydration pack freezes worse than water bottles? My running partner uses one and that happened last week - a big pack of liquid sports drink and no way to get at it.

    My biggest hydration problem in the winter is remembering to drink - just don't feel as thirsty!

    Keep up the good work :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Everytime I read your posts, I get cold. lol Just reading stories of you running in minus 20 degrees has me shivering. Thank god for coffee.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, I really should not be complaining about the "cold" weather we have had here in FL this week. It is nothing compared to what you have. Glad you were able to find a workaround for your hydration problem. I must admit I never thought about water/sports drink freezing during a run!

    ReplyDelete