I got up this morning to about 1/4 inch of snow on the ground, and despite tomorrow being my day to run I just had to get out there and see how it was. I gotta say it wasn't bad, but it could be a whole lot better.
being in kind of a hurry, my warmup consisted of layering up in my gear (compression shirt, long sleeve tech shirt, cotton T, pants, hat, gloves) and doing some jumping jacks in the kitchen for a minute or so. probably should have done more, but time was not on my side this morning.
stepped out into the snow and man was it cold! colder than anything I had previously run in with the possible exception of the wet grass last week at the local turkey trot. I grinned and beared it though, knowing it would be just a couple minutes until my feet warmed up. I hit the streets and took off.
the first 5 minutes went more or less as expected, with my feet getting up to temperature. the ground was wet and cold, and I was concerned about the coldness of the ole toes, but I've been through that many times before and told myself it would just be another minute. just after the 5 minute mark I could feel my feet heating up, and I was relieved.
the next 5 minutes was pretty good, with my feet feeling pretty good. the snow hid a lot of the normal sticks and stones that I usually skip around, so there were several painful steps involving hidden treasure. all in all not bad, but at about hte 10 minute mark my feet started getting chilly again and my achilles felt like it was tightening up (I have been rehabbing some mild tendonitis for a few weeks now) so I decided it was best to turn around and head for home.
it took me 8 minutes to get home, as I picked up my pace a bit to get home faster. not necessarily the wisest choice with my now sore achilles, but it made the feet warm up a little more which was a plus. stepped on plenty more sticks and stones, and my feet got cold again after a few minutes. by the time I got home they were pretty cold indeed!
once inside the feet warmed up pretty quickly, which was great, and now they feel pretty good, so recovery from the cold wasn't too bad. all in all I'm going to call it a positive experience, though the shorter distance and problems with the cold were a little disappointing. next time I will allot more time for warming up and things should go more smoothly.
being in kind of a hurry, my warmup consisted of layering up in my gear (compression shirt, long sleeve tech shirt, cotton T, pants, hat, gloves) and doing some jumping jacks in the kitchen for a minute or so. probably should have done more, but time was not on my side this morning.
stepped out into the snow and man was it cold! colder than anything I had previously run in with the possible exception of the wet grass last week at the local turkey trot. I grinned and beared it though, knowing it would be just a couple minutes until my feet warmed up. I hit the streets and took off.
the first 5 minutes went more or less as expected, with my feet getting up to temperature. the ground was wet and cold, and I was concerned about the coldness of the ole toes, but I've been through that many times before and told myself it would just be another minute. just after the 5 minute mark I could feel my feet heating up, and I was relieved.
the next 5 minutes was pretty good, with my feet feeling pretty good. the snow hid a lot of the normal sticks and stones that I usually skip around, so there were several painful steps involving hidden treasure. all in all not bad, but at about hte 10 minute mark my feet started getting chilly again and my achilles felt like it was tightening up (I have been rehabbing some mild tendonitis for a few weeks now) so I decided it was best to turn around and head for home.
it took me 8 minutes to get home, as I picked up my pace a bit to get home faster. not necessarily the wisest choice with my now sore achilles, but it made the feet warm up a little more which was a plus. stepped on plenty more sticks and stones, and my feet got cold again after a few minutes. by the time I got home they were pretty cold indeed!
once inside the feet warmed up pretty quickly, which was great, and now they feel pretty good, so recovery from the cold wasn't too bad. all in all I'm going to call it a positive experience, though the shorter distance and problems with the cold were a little disappointing. next time I will allot more time for warming up and things should go more smoothly.
