As cold as it gets

If I can handle this I probably will be ok this winter.

This seems brutally cold but I was actually getting too hot after the first 4 miles and went home to take off some layers.

This is what I learned so far from running in extreme cold:

- With the right gear you can run in pretty much any cold weather.

- Most important areas to protect: head, neck, hands and legs. If your neck and head are warm you feel good. 

- No gloves, use thick windstopping mitts. 

- Protect your legs. Especially your butt! This area gets very cold and one layer is not enough. I wear a thick running tight and as a second layer a wind stopper. Still my butt is cold but it is doable.

- No wind stopper jackets, I'm serious, you get too hot. No hard shells either. You  will overheat.

- Wear a second hat or take one with. Nothing is worse when your head covering starts to get wet from your sweat and then that starts to freeze. You will need a second layer to stay protected.

- Use your head and hands as regulator for temperature. Even in brutal cold you will have moments that you get too hot. For instance you start against the wind but another part of the run the wind is behind you. This will feel like it's super hot and you'll start to sweat. The best way to regulate that is via your gloves or hat. Either take them off or allow some wind to cool off your skin partially.

- Drink! You will not be thirsty but running in extreme cold dehydrates you quickly. It's very dry. Water will freeze and I don't want to buy more gear. I am wearing enough weight as it is. I just go home more often and drink. 

Kids still playing outside. Shows that as long as you are well dressed you still can have fun and enjoy the outdoors.

Failed attempt...............

This is not me but if could have been. I tried to go for a run but stopped at 1.5 mile, a very hard 1.5 mile. 

My inside runner person feels like freaking out but I know it will be ok. Just rationalize those crazy OCD thoughts away. I worked the kettlebells instead. 

Temps around -22C/-4F don't know the wind chill but it was cold.

There's always tomorrow....

Creepy me!

This is me after my 40 minute easy run with frozen eye lashes. It looks bad but actually doesn't feel bad at all. 

These were the temps on my run:

-20C/-3F temp,
-26C/-15F with wind chill

I will probably be ok this winter because it felt not that bad. I must say my new balaclava is super awesome. It really makes a big difference compared to others, especially the wind mouth protection.

Go outside!!

The wolf of Bonnyville

Not my pic, but looked like this.

I am sure I saw a wolf on my run today. Tom says it was probably a coyote but this was a big ole animal bigger than a german shepherd. Maybe it was a coyote but if it was then it was ginormous. It ran too fast for me to take a picture so you have to believe me at my word. 

Headed out early because the forecast was a big blizzard today, it was already snowing pretty hard.  Got myself a new balaclava so I was excited to try it out today.

I'm very impressed with it. Although you can't really see the mouth piece that it has in this picture. It works well in the cold and keeps the balaclava from getting wet because of the heavy breathing. 

This is a better picture. It's a sonic outdoor research balaclava. Recommended for the arctic so I guess it will work well for me.

6 miles today, temperature around -17C/0F. I actually got very hot with this balaclava. 

First the trail looked like this ^

Then the plow came by and it looked like this ^

The plow lady looked at me in awe and admiration. At least that's what I like to think, she might also think I'm nuts. Unfortunately you can't see from this pictures that it's snowing pretty hard. 

Yesterday I had my first fall so I wore my Kahtoola's today. Best purchase ever for winter running. You can seriously run down hill on a sheet of ice with these things. 

Have a great day all! Go outdoors, it will make you feel happier!!

Long Shadows

            

Long shadows on a sunny afternoon. It's the middle of the day but the sun stays quite low on the horizon. Temp was -11C/12F but it felt a lot warmer than yesterday. Lots of sunshine and practically no wind.

Did 1.5 hour run plodding through lots of snow. Snow in the weekend in a small town means no plows. So I had to run on the road dodging cars. I actually only ran about 5.5 miles so that tells you how slow it went. Kinda feels like running on a sandy beach. 

Just for fun, this is what my neighbor wears when he goes for a smoke outside when it's 12F.  He's a nice guy though :)

wind chill

I have not officially started my training yet, I am just keeping up with my mileage and doing easy runs. Total mileage around 30 now but adding a little every week.

Easy 6 miles today. Lots of snow in the forecast for today so I didn't want to go too late in the day knowing that it would be harder with all the fresh snow on the ground. Temp was -8C/19F but the wind chill forecast was -17C/1F. 

You can't really see it but the snow was blowing horizontal because of the crazy wind. Still I enjoyed it and started sweating quite a bit. However because of the wind chill I didn't take any layers off.  

According to wikipedia wind chill is the "perceived decrease in air temperature felt by the body on exposed skin due to the flow of air." If you stand still in air that is 20 degrees F and there is no wind, your skint will be warmer than 20 degrees. Wind carries some of that heat away and the faster the wind the faster the heat loss. Once the wind surpasses 25 mph or so, it whisks away heat more quickly than your body can emit it. 

That is important information. First of all I hate to feel cold so I rather overdress, do a warm up, come home and adjust my layers. Second if the wind chill is bad it means ones you cool off you really don't warm up anymore, at least not outside. So if the wind chill gets real bad like -20F or below than I don't go too far from home. That way I can go home if I start to feel cold. No need to take unnecessary risks. 

It's decided. I am going to run outside in the Northern Alberta winter. No excuses just do it.

I know there will be many challenges but hopefully just as many solutions. Anything is possible.

Please follow me and help me to keep going!!!!

Today was 4 miles easy. There was freezing rain so it was very slick. I ran on the snow to avoid falling. Not too cold around 32F/0C. The above picture is from last year.

Still running easy, recovering after the NYC marathon.