Winter Challenge - 2013

I wonder how Wim Hoff would do in the stuff we complain about.

The Weather Channel did a show Sunday night that I used the DVR and watched yesterday. They showed him put in a clear plastic container and he wore only bathing trunks, which they filled with ice up to his neck. He stayed in there for a full hour. Hoff claims that he is able to harness his body's reactions through the use of meditation.

There's also a video of him on Youtube showing him doing the same sort of stunt at a TED talk, although it was only for 10 minutes or so and not a full hour.
Yah, someone posted the video of him running in the Artic. I think it was on last year's Winter Challenge, but maybe it was on a different thread. Really awesome, although it did take him a while to recover, as I recall. I don't know how he can control his body temp like that. I can't even control my conscious thoughts.
 
Can someone check the formula for average run in the Individual Stats box on the Stats page?
For me it's showing 7.5 km total distance for 4 runs with an average of 3.7. The correct average is 1.9.
Some of the averages for other runners look correct, others are clearly wrong. I can't see a consistent pattern.

Thanks,

David
 
Yeah, I know BB. And on today's commute I definitely didn't feel like I was padding the mileage. It was a challenge, no doubt. Anyway, I'm ahead of you now. Catch me if you can! Or course, Rick down in balmy Beryl can catch up in a single one of his long runs, so I doubt I'll have the lead for long. I fear it's my destiny to be his Jan Ullrich, always in second place. At least no one took away Jan's place in the standings, so there are advantages!

I probably got the details of the story wrong. My dad's pretty familiar with Manitoba, and some of his family settled in North Dakota. And don't feel too bad about Americans not knowing much about Canada. Americans on the coasts think Minnesota is like Garrison Keilor's Lake Wobegon.

Speaking of booties, I'm thinking of getting something like this: http://www.rei.com/product/855499/rei-down-booties-mens
I figure if I get into trouble, or simply want to take a break instead of giving in and putting on shoes, I can use these. Any thoughts?
.....and it looks like I will be eternally 3rd unless YOW continues on his torrid pace of running awesomeness.

Took a look at the boots, they look like the perfect solution for a quick donning of the footwear, nothing worse than struggling to get your shoes or boots on once your feet are a point. Much better to have something you can slip on fast. My mukluks take me about 2 seconds to get on and off, these are the same concept.
 
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.....and it looks like I will be eternally 3rd unless YOW continues on his torrid pace of running awesomeness.

Took a look at the boots, they look like the perfect solution for a quick donning of the footwear, nothing worse than struggling to get your shoes or boots on once your feet are a point. Much better to have something you can slip on fast. My mukluks take me about 2 seconds to get on and off, these are the same concept.
Yah, YOW's doing really well. I'll probably have to start running partially shod fairly soon, so my rate of bare mileage accumulation will slow down. I ran down my fairgrounds street yesterday afternoon as part of my run. It's still there.
Underwood.jpg
As I'm getting used to things on these early morning run-commutes, I'm getting a pretty good feel, under somewhat controlled conditions (same route, same distance) of what kind of temps/windchill I can put up with for a mile. The fairgrounds street is also a mile in length, and since it's been my intent to train more at tempo pace over the winter, I've been thinking about running down that street at a good clip, then quick slip on the booties during my interval rest, and then run back down the street. Basically do a bunch of one-mile intervals once or twice a week.

The nice thing about the booties is they compress well, so I can probably stuff them in my pockets while running. Still, I'd be interested in knowing which model of the Mukluks you use. Or did you mention before that yours are homemade? I know there's a company in Ely Minnesota that makes them, but they're pricey.
 
Mine were made by my wife, she did a fantastic job of putting them together.
 
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@Scratch --- Wim Hoff is an example of how amazing the human body/mind is. Stick me in a tank of ice for over and hour and I'd look like my avatar.

@Bare Lee -- you've moved into top spot. Good on ya.

@TJ -- My aunt brought a copy of the original article to my Grandmother. She wanted her to know what whacky stuff I was up to.

@kozz -- I added the pirate flag for you.
 
First day running on salt. Oh God, my feet were sore after 6km. It was chunky salt that was all over the sidewalk. My feet have not been seasoned enough to handle it yet. Tomorrow may be better as the forecast calls for 6-10 inches by Thursday morning. I think I may be seeing that last of the smooth roads/sidewalks. The salt/sand season has begun.
 
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Can someone check the formula for average run in the Individual Stats box on the Stats page?
For me it's showing 7.5 km total distance for 4 runs with an average of 3.7. The correct average is 1.9.
Some of the averages for other runners look correct, others are clearly wrong. I can't see a consistent pattern.

Fixed it David .... I had sorted the data on the 1st tab, and forgot to update the hidden columns for the charts. I think it is OK now.
 
Speaking of booties, I'm thinking of getting something like this: http://www.rei.com/product/855499/rei-down-booties-mens
I figure if I get into trouble, or simply want to take a break instead of giving in and putting on shoes, I can use these. Any thoughts?


Lee -- I think you''ll find that these get torn to shreds. Bob's idea of a mukluk is good because they slip on quick and have some durability. Even then mukluks will not survive asphalt and concrete without synthetic sole. Lee you mentioned in other post that you're an asphalt technician. Do you prefer to run on HL8 or HL3?
 
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Lee -- I think you''ll find that these get torn to shreds. Bob's idea of a mukluk is good because they slip on quick and have some durability. Even then mukluks will not survive asphalt and concrete without synthetic sole. Lee you mentioned in other post that you're an asphalt technician. Do you prefer to run on HL8 or HL3?
Not to contradict your comment YOW, but i do not agree with your mukluk statement. I do not have a synthetic sole on mine, just a double layer of buckskin. I have been using them for now into their 4th winter season, and I am still on the first set of soles. That includes well over 1,000 (probably closer to 1,500) miles of running including concrete, ashpalt, limestone, gravel. lake ice and of course my favorite trails. Handmade are the best, not the crap that you buy in the store (most of that stuff is made in China), they are just not put together with the most important step (pride and love (I know that is hokey) in your workmanship).

By the way HL8, the coarser the better, I always say.
 
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Another km for me tonight on snow packed sidewalks at the end of my mukluk run tonight. Temps sitting at -18 so not as cold as last night but with the sun down it is still pretty chilly on the tootsies. Going to try to get a least a km a day for the next month or so. Really trying to get over that 300 km mark this year.
 
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Not to contradict your comment YOW, but i do not agree with your mukluk statement. I do not have a synthetic sole on mine, just a double layer of buckskin. I have been using them for now into their 4th winter season, and I am still on the first set of soles. That includes well over 1,000 (probably closer to 1,500) miles of running including concrete, ashpalt, limestone, gravel. lake ice and of course my favorite trails. Handmade are the best, not the crap that you buy in the store (most of that stuff is made in China), they are just not put together with the most important step (pride and love (I know that is hokey) in your workmanship).

By the way HL8, the coarser the better, I always say.

Bob -- Nicole (hope I spelled her name correctly) will have to start taking orders. I bought a pair of mocs (First Nations here in Ontario) and they did not hold up well on dry pavement. The sole was double layer (moose inner and bisson outer)
 
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Lee -- I think you''ll find that these get torn to shreds. Bob's idea of a mukluk is good because they slip on quick and have some durability. Even then mukluks will not survive asphalt and concrete without synthetic sole. Lee you mentioned in other post that you're an asphalt technician. Do you prefer to run on HL8 or HL3?
YOW, the idea wasn't to run in them, but just to warm up the feet in between intervals, instead of messing with socks and shoes. Once we're into winter for real, it will be very hard to find decent routes. There are always patches of salt and unshoveled sidewalks, and so on. My solution in the second half of last winter was to run back and forth on a street in the nearby Minnesota State Fairgrounds. This street has little shade and sits up high, so the snow melts and runs off there before it does anywhere else. Plus, it doesn't get salted, but does get plowed, and there's little traffic on it in the winter. The only drawback is that it's a little extra windy up there. So I would just run back and forth on it until I'd run my run. But this year I'm thinking of trying to get in more interval work, because I'd like to knock about a minute a mile off my aerobic pace by spring. So, on colder days, the idea would be to run tempo for the length of the street, put on the booties for a few minutes of rest, and then take them off and run another length of the street. I might be able to do the rests without putting anything on, but my experience has been that the feet cool down pretty fast the minute you stop running. Since I'll be run at close to my limits a lot of the time, one bare break might push me beyond that.

As for moccasins, I have some I bought 30 years ago, and although the use over the years has been sporadic, they've held up really well. I think it's just cow hide. An alternative to the booties would be some sheepskin slippers (e.g. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/18999?feat=511914-GN2&page=bean-s-wicked-good-slipper-men-s), and then maybe use some contact cement to attach a thin, vibram-like rubber sole. Then I could run home in them after I got tired of freezing my toes off.

You said you run in salt? I personally can't take that stuff. Sand's fine though, but most people around here salt, especially on the recreational bike/pedestrian paths along the lakes and rivers. It's a pity, because most of my out-n-back routes are based on getting to those lake paths or to the paths down by the Mississippi River.

Windchill this morning: -2F/-18.9C, dry surfaces, but it still just about did me in, especially since I have a heel fissure that's been bothering me for the last few days. I think I have to establish an absolute cut-off pretty soon before I get myself in trouble. 0F/-18C seems like a good one.

I got the name asphalt technician last summer when a guy in an old junker pick-up pulled up to me and said "you are an asphalt technician." It was like a scene out of a Jim Jarmusch movie. I took it as a sign to embrace my urban barefoot running, rather than feeling resigned to it and pine for the trails.

But for the record, I prefer HL-3; with my perfect form :eek: , I don't really need the superior stabilization that the HL-8 affords, and the HL-3 is perfectly adequate for my loading, even at 100kilos. The rough stuff is good for conditioning, but it definitely slows me down.
 
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Another km for me tonight on snow packed sidewalks at the end of my mukluk run tonight. Temps sitting at -18 so not as cold as last night but with the sun down it is still pretty chilly on the tootsies. Going to try to get a least a km a day for the next month or so. Really trying to get over that 300 km mark this year.
I'm with Bob on a short run everyday. Depending on temperature for me it could be a 1/2 km or 1 km. Fresh snow on the ground this morning so it was only a 1/2 km today at end of run with a temp of -18C. 1 mile in my KIGO's, no socks this year as I've gotten to be like Lee and developed hot feet.
 
Bob -- Nicole (hope I spelled her name correctly) will have to start taking orders. I bought a pair of mocs (First Nations here in Ontario) and they did not hold up well on dry pavement. The sole was double layer (moose inner and bisson outer)

Lol, you got it right YOW, I am trying to convince Nicole to come out of Mukluk making retirement, but that is easier said than done. Making them for her is a passion and she does not like to do nothing but the perfect job for each set she makes, so it usually takes her sometime to get them together and out.
I am a little surprised that the moose and bison did not hold up better, they are typically some tough hides, you must be doing a lot of running on HL-8.:wacky:
 
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We got 10" of snow today. I didn't get out for a run, as I was too busy snow blowing the laneways of my neighbours.

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First winter challenge run today...went better than I expected

Hey Mokie! How much snow did you get today? We got a nice dusting, but it was all gone by 10-11 a.m. What were your temps today during your run?
 
We got 10" of snow today. I didn't get out for a run, as I was too busy snow blowing the laneways of my neighbours.

That is so nice, YOW. I just love how quiet it is outside while the snow falls, so peaceful.