Once again this year, February seems to be the coldest month. Temperatures, in degrees F, during my runs over the past 10 days:
8, 35, 21, 19, 19, 30, 18 and tonight 14F.
I don't mind the occasional training run in the cold. But after a few frigid days it starts to grate on me. I remember back to last February, where the high did not top 20F for nearly three weeks. This year it has not been nearly that bad. The group dealt with it then and is dealing with it now.
As an outdoor runner, I'd like it just a bit warmer, but not too much. I'll take 30-40F, with light wind, any day of the week. Yet it's amazing to me how the body adapts to the extreme elements if dressed in adequate layers. Weather at Tuesday night's group workout: 18F, winds 25+, windchill -2, at 6:30pm. I wore two long sleeve shirts, pants, hat and gloves. Add jacket for the warm-up/cool-down.
A group of six doing 800m intervals, with several others running laps. Although frigid, I felt warmed up enough and motivated by having the groupies. Workout was 8x 800m, with 400m recovery jogs. Still fatigued from the weekend race and 13 at Hinckley the day prior, my legs felt heavy in the first few 800s. Even on this ridiculously cold night with wind chills near sub-zero, we were still out doing I-pace intervals. And the body dealt. Splits were about 5-10 seconds slower than on a warm summer day, but we hit the number 8 and accumulated about 25 minutes of coveted I-pace training. I retrieved my frozen and undrinkable water bottle. No worries since there was no danger of over-perspiration.
Dealing with cold runs is part of the Cleveland I know. Having the April marathon as a goal makes the winter season fly by. I'm hoping the worst of the weather has past and with March comes warmer temps and better quality running.
