Tuesday, February 06, 2007

PROPER ATTIRE

Last night I jumped on the treadmill for an easy 5 miles. I watched CBS’s uber-hyped “Rules of Engagement” and actually liked it. Of course, all the funny lines were used in the commercials, so we’ll see if they can keep it up.

This morning I was back outside for a 10 mile run, including 2 sets of 4 hill repeats. While I find it difficult to do up-tempo runs in this weather, I have no problem doing hill workouts – probably because I’m not focused on speed at all, just strength. Plus, I find the miserable weather (-20 windchill with flurries) and the misery of hill repeats kind of cancel themselves out. When I get tired of the weather, I think about the hills. When I get tired of the hills, I think about the weather.

I think I figured out part of the problem with running in this weather – I don’t do it enough. Not in the sense that I enjoy it and want to do it more, but in the sense that I don’t do it enough, so I haven’t figured out the proper attire. Believe it or not, this usually leads to being overdressed – except for my face. I’m really not a fan of facemasks, so my body tends to be toasty while my face just goes numb.

This morning’s attire included wind briefs, two pairs of pants, half tights, two long sleeve shirts, my thickest jacket, a vest, two hats, socks and shoes (duh), and mitts. Or should I say MITTS?

I’m happy to report that I’ve finally figured out the glove/mitt situation for negative temps/windchills. I wear a pair of fleece running mitts under a pair of rawhide choppers that include a liner – a total of 3 layers. I tried a fourth layer last Saturday and it was too much. But if I ever run when it’s minus forty or minus fifty, my hands will be set.

Quote of the day;

“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it: the whole story doesn’t show.” – Andrew Wyeth, American painter

7 comments:

L*I*S*A said...

I need to get one of those all face ski masks for winter running. The fleece scarf just keeps coming down, and I get sick to death of readjusting all the time.

Chad said...

The facemask I do use ocassionally is a helmet liner. I'm not even sure where I got it from - probably stole it from my dad.

Don said...

It is tempting to overdress, but that seems natural when UNDERdressing can actually result in injury and overdressing won't.

Anonymous said...

do you have the neoprene face mask. That's the only kind I can use, otherwise you're just sucking on damp/frozen fleece.

Chad said...

Evan, I don't know what it's made out of, but it's not fleece. It's very thin. I think the thing I hate the worst is taking it off when I'm done running. It has icicles hanging off it.

Anonymous said...

This is what I have. It's great in two respects. (1) It's warm enough that until it gets below -5 (approx, or really windy) I don't need another layer on top of the facemask. (2) The neoprene means you can breathe normally and it doesn't ice up round your mouth.

It still gets ice crystals on top, but that's never uncomfortable, and on Sunday when I did 2+ hours in it, enough sweat had frozen at the base of it that there was a chunk of ice round my neck. But I never noticed that 'til I was home.

Not on commission, just happy to find something that works!

Chad said...

Looks good, but...

Availability: This item is currently not available.