A Little Chilly Run

This morning's run was a little chilly as the temperature hit a balmy -20 (C).  I had to do a 60 minute tempo run with 2 x 12 minutes at 140 bps followed by 3 x 1 minute full out sprints.  I wore my new(ish) riding jacket that I got several months ago, one heavy running shirt (no layering), the new windproof pants that Tammy got for me and the lobster riding gloves my brother got from Mountain Coop. I also wore a balaclava but after 15 minutes I couldn't breathe.  I was a little cold but once I got going after 20 minutes I was ok.  It was a little surreal running at 5:30 am and it being that cold.  There was nobody outside this morning, only people heading off to working thinking "is that idiot really running in this weather?" Last night's news kept saying it was the coldest day of the year but I didn't find it that bad.

By the time I got to the 3 x 1 minutes sprints, I was more than warmed up and let it rip but I quickly ran out of gas, although I wasn't quite sure how long I ran for as its impossible to read my watch in the dark even with the light one while running at top speed.  The main thing I was worried about was a) slipping on the ice so I ran in the middle of the road or b) some idiot pulling out and clipping me.  Nothing happened but I almost did get clipped earlier in the run as some asshole decided that its really not necessary for him to stop at a stop sign or at least look for people crossing the street just because its 6 am.

The one thing I did like about this run was that it gave me an excellent indicator of what to wear when the weather gets down to -30 (C) and/or I have longer runs than 60 minutes.  I have no problems running until it gets down to around -35 (C) or the winds get up to more than 30 km/hr.  It seems "some" people can't handle our "cold" weather ahem, not to mention any names, *cough* John "Whhaaaa I can't run if its too cold" Proc *cough*  SUCK IT UP BABY!!