Sunday, February 10, 2008

Fitness Update #1 - Cold Weather Running!

So I've bumped up my long run from 8K last week up to 9K this week. The challenge for this week wasn't the distance, it was the temperature! I completed my run in about 58 minutes and 24 seconds, which could have been done faster had it not been for the treacherous terrain. Running through unshoveled piles of snow/ice aren't really that of a concern for me, what really concerned me were the patches of ice while I was going DOWNHILL on Avenue Road.

I have to say that I have a lot of respect for people who run for longer distances in sub -10 degree Celsius weather WITH windchill added! I am so glad that my friend Beverly, who is also training for a marathon had given me the tip of putting Vaseline on my face when I'm running in particularly frigid weather.

I finally got to test the limits of my midweight running tights that I picked up from Mountain Equipment Co-op (mec.ca)... probably -7 degrees Celsius is the limit to which it can sustain any reasonable amount of warmth for my thighs. By the time I got back to the Ryerson gym and had taken off my tights, my thighs were red as lobsters. Note to self - pick up a pair of heavyweight tights for these crazier days.

Below is the course I took with the use of the handy-dandy runners companion, MapMyRun.com :)

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