Today was very frosty and cold. Clear skies overnight meant a hefty frost and temps of around -2C this morning. I decided to run shirtless anyway! It was quite a shock getting straight out of bed, into my running gear and out on the road. However, the cold seems to have spurred me on to run my best time yet for my standard run - 36 Minutes and 15 Seconds - that's almost a minute faster than I have done before.
My hands were cold and painful at the end of the run too, but not unbearably so and they recovered quite quickly. I had one motorist sound his hooter (horn) at me this morning - first time in a long time that this has happened. I am sure that they can't believe someone would go out running not fully dressed for arctic conditions in this kind of weather.
Nevertheless, I found the run quite invigorating and not unpleasant in any way. I just wish that I could fit in a cold water swim along the way too.
Wednesday 16 December 2009
Friday 11 December 2009
Recent Activity
Well, its been much of the same, mostly running these days to keep the weight off over the last 3 weeks. Cold showers most days for around 5 minutes too.
Have been running at least twice a week (sometimes 3 times) for the past 3 weeks and I am sticking at around the 66Kg to 67Kg mark weight wise. My run times are consistent between 37 and 39 minutes for my standard distance of approx 4 miles/7Km. Pulse at the end of my run is around 132bpm and goes down to around 90bpm within 5 minutes and back to the 70-75bpm mark after around 15 minutes.
Today's run was done in the normal gear - shorts and trainers only - even though the outside air temperature was only 3C. It was not the coldest I have been over the past weeks - I did a run in driving rain and cold (approx 2C) - about 2 weeks ago where my hands were painful after the run to the point where it was difficult to use the key to get back into my house! It seems the colder mornings lead to better times (Today was 37m 35s only a few seconds off my best time) maybe its an innate thing to work harder to keep warm while running to maintain the core temperature?
Mountain biking for about 2 hours on one Saturday through vast expanses of wet, muddy tracks also led to a cold water hose down of the bike and me to wash the mass of mud off at the end of the session. A lot of fun but a cold ending which did not end with a cold water shower like my runs do but a warm (not hot) one to gradually warm me up (along with a nice cup of tea, of course).
Hope to do 3 runs next week before heading off to a much warmer climate for a short winter sun holiday.
Have been running at least twice a week (sometimes 3 times) for the past 3 weeks and I am sticking at around the 66Kg to 67Kg mark weight wise. My run times are consistent between 37 and 39 minutes for my standard distance of approx 4 miles/7Km. Pulse at the end of my run is around 132bpm and goes down to around 90bpm within 5 minutes and back to the 70-75bpm mark after around 15 minutes.
Today's run was done in the normal gear - shorts and trainers only - even though the outside air temperature was only 3C. It was not the coldest I have been over the past weeks - I did a run in driving rain and cold (approx 2C) - about 2 weeks ago where my hands were painful after the run to the point where it was difficult to use the key to get back into my house! It seems the colder mornings lead to better times (Today was 37m 35s only a few seconds off my best time) maybe its an innate thing to work harder to keep warm while running to maintain the core temperature?
Mountain biking for about 2 hours on one Saturday through vast expanses of wet, muddy tracks also led to a cold water hose down of the bike and me to wash the mass of mud off at the end of the session. A lot of fun but a cold ending which did not end with a cold water shower like my runs do but a warm (not hot) one to gradually warm me up (along with a nice cup of tea, of course).
Hope to do 3 runs next week before heading off to a much warmer climate for a short winter sun holiday.
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