I just uploaded my workout to Garmin Connect and the temperature recorded was 1 degree! One degree! Holy crap. It felt pretty cold out there. My hands and feet were numb and my unprotected face was bitter. It was the first time in a long, long time I wish I had covered my face!
I am not a stranger to running in the cold. I joke about how I have workout gear for every 10 degree temperature gradient, so I’m prepared. But, as I get older, I am starting to dislike cold weather running. Maybe it’s because I feel as though I have less and less to prove to myself (or anyone else for that matter). I could have easily headed to one of my gyms and gone on the treadmill. As I am typing this post, and still trying to warm up, I’m wondering why I didn’t run inside.
Maybe I needed the sun and the Vitamin D. Maybe it was just easier to put on my running shoes and “get it done.” Maybe it’s because when it is scorching hot in July, I’ll appreciate this polar vortex I ran through.
I don’t know. I also don’t know if I wasn’t “in training” for my Ironman race if I would have run at all.
As motivated as I am, I think it helps to have a plan to follow. A place to log my workouts and a person to whom I am accountable. Sometimes, If I stop and think too much, I’ll just head back under the covers.
Thirty years of working out and twenty years of triathlon training and I still realize that every little bit helps.
I hear we might be getting a big snowstorm tomorrow. Look out treadmill, here I come!