Well, had my first official numb-plunge yesterday. I ran a mile on the local jhs track, where the surface is sandy gravel/gravelly sand, and then 2 miles of 100-meter sprints on the grass field inside the track. Both were still wet from the snow we got the day before. The air temp wasn't too bad, at 2.22 C (-1.66 C windchill) but the surface moisture had my feet numbing down right from the start. My mets started to get stiff, but stabilized after two miles or so. On some of my previous runs this season, I've felt a little numbness on the skin, but this was the first time it penetrated, and I got a few of those pins and needles that Bob describes. On several sprints I was running close to 5mm pace to try to warm up the feet, then on my 30/40-meter jog in between sprints the feet would numb down again, a little more after each sprint. I feel like I've been re-baptized. I had been feeling a little apprehension, as Grant related in his interview, about experiencing this deeper numbness again, but I'm full in it now!
Dang Lee....I make fun of you for one post, disappear and you take off with your mileage!?!?!?!
....looks like I need to get my mileage back up there....
cold weather on the way!
Well, one has to play to one's strengths. I may never be fast, even by recreational runner standards, or run more than halfmarathonish distances, but I've had 'hot foot' all my life. That's partly why I've been a casual barefooter most of my adult life; I hate socks, and avoid footwear whenever possible in the warmer months. I suppose it doesn't hurt to have Viking blood coursing through my veins. I had been keeping track of mileage and temps in my log anyway, so it really didn't make sense to sit out the Winter Challenge, and I think I've convinced myself that I won't take any unnecessary risks this year. Namely, I won't be trying to run in snow!
But keep in mind a lot of those miles are small, one-mile run-commutes. I started run-commuting a few months ago. The great thing about the cold is that I now run those commutes at tempo pace! 23 F/-5 C (19 F /-7.2 C windchill) this morning.
Here is the link to the newspaper article in the Toronto Star today on the Winter Barefoot Challenge. Grant and Rod (YOW) did a fantastic job as per usual. This guy named Bob Nichol (must be an imposter who is trying to whittle in on my territory, adding an 'H' to my last name, like I wouldn't notice) on the other hand..............
http://www.thestar.com/life/2013/11/06/why_some_canadians_run_barefoot_in_the_snow.html
Way to represent fellas! Awesome article! Somehow seeing it in print (so to speak) makes me feel a little less crazy.
@YOW, thanks for the reply. I want to mess with the thermometer mostly out of curiosity. There's this one concrete bridge, for example, on my morning run-commute that feels significantly colder than the sidewalk on either side. I want to know if it's just my imagination or not.
I'll continue to use air temp and windchill for the Challenge, so that we're all using the same standard.