Man did I suffer today. Quite a contrast to yesterday. We all suffer on occasional runs, like I did last Friday when I was so tired that I could barely manage 8:00 miles, but this run didn't fall into that class. I wasn't tired, I was not sore, and had no injuries. Instead it was the weather and my not preparing for it properly that did me in. I headed out the door this morning at 5:30 when the temperature was just under 40 degrees. It was poring and my only thought as I stepped into the rain was "cruel". I quickly warmed up even as I got soaked through. No Gortex was going to keep out this rain. At about 2 miles I turned into the wind and I said to myself that I was going to be in trouble if the temperature dropped. But then how much can the temperature drop in 90 minutes? Seven degrees is the answer to that question.

When I started running it was poring. When I got to mile five I was headed into a strong head wind coming off the lake. The rain was coming so hard it stung my face even though I wore a hat with a good brim and a beard covers the lower half of my face. I swear there were pins and needles coming down with the rain. There is one stretch on this route that runs right next to a wall along the lake. Today the waves were crashing into that wall and sending a spray of water into the road and onto any insane runner that happened to be going that way. Not that it really mattered. I was soaked anyway and I was soon to be headed east with the wind at my back.

At mile seven the wind started to pick up (at least it seemed that way) and shifted to the north. I started to get cold as I no longer had the wind at my back; it was coming at me from my left. Mostly just my hands got cold. The stinging rain now felt soft as it struck my face. It was still dark so I couldn't see it, but I figured the rain had started to turn to snow. I put my water bottle in my back jacket pocket and made fists in my wet gloves. At about mile 9 of 11, I had to head north into the wind for a short stretch. The rain had completely changed over to snow at that point. My hands were now quite cold, and other things started to get cold too. (I leave to your imagination to decide what "things" were getting cold.)

When I got back my hands were sold cold I had to use my teeth and palms to unzip my jacket. When I looked at the clock I was surprised at the time. I was wearing my Forerunner but hadn't looked at it after the first few disappointing miles. I looked at it and it showed 7:15 miles. That is not unusually fast for me but I usually know it when I am running at that pace. I figured that with the wind and the sloshing through puddles and lack of attention to pace that I was probably running 7:45. Must be I subconsciously wanted to get home fast. Anyway, after I showered and warmed up I felt great. No aches, no pains, no strains.

Victor

PS: 2 mile walk at lunch time.

Cross-training: 2.0 miles
Running: 11.0 miles
Shoes: Asics GEL GT 2100
WTD running: 33.0 miles
WTD total: 49.0 miles

posted by Not So Competitive Runner at 3:04 PM