Below 20 and Windy

Today was a busy day. We are leaving for our early holiday trip to California tomorrow, so there was a lot of packing and preparation going on. It was also a cold day. When I checked the weather this morning, the temperature was 17F, and with the wind chill, it was a frosty 2F. I don't know about you but I have rules about temperatures.

I will run in pretty much any cold temperature, as long as the wind isn't blowing. I think the coldest I have run in is 0F. When there is no wind, it's actually pretty easy to be comfortable. I generally layer. At 35F and below, I wear a long sleeve shirt under a shell, gloves, ear band, and wind pants. At around 28F, I usually add a second shirt - short sleeve, that goes over the long sleeve. Everything else is the same. At 20F, I switch from an ear band to a hat. At around 15F, the second shirt either becomes long sleeve, or I add a third shirt. I may also add a pair of gloves under my Sugoi wind mits. If it is wet and below 30F (freezing rain), I may add a pair of tights under my wind pants.

Any colder and it becomes a custom deal. It doesn't happen often enough to have rules for it. But the last rule I have is if it is 20F or below and the wind is blowing, I stay inside. I just haven't found a way to protect the exposed skin of my face. And when the temperature with wind chill is 2F, it feels much colder than that on exposed skin. Really there's no comparison to 17F with a 2F wind chill, and 2F with no wind.

Today's scheduled workout, was Key Work #2 - tempo run. 1 mile at easy tempo pace, 5 miles at long tempo pace, and 1 mile at easy tempo pace. Since my long tempo pace is the same as I ran in October for the Denver Half Marathon, I figured, how hard can this be? I'm beginning to hate it when I think that. Given the temperature, there was no way I was running outside today. So that meant it was a tempo workout on the treadmill.

I think there is something wrong with my treadmill. It's 10 years old, but in really good shape. I recently replaced both the deck and the belt. It's a PaceMaster Pro Plus and was around $2k new. The issue I have is that treadmill workouts are supposed to be easier than running outside. At least that's what 'they' say. Whoever 'they' are. But I consistently find that my perceived effort is higher when running the same pace on my treadmill versus running outside. Maybe it's mental. Maybe I get bored on the treadmill and all there is to think about is "when am I going to be done".

The other thing that occurred to me, is that I may need to check to make sure it's level. Maybe when it thinks it is flat, it is actually sloping up hill a degree or so. Probably wishful thinking on my part. In any case, I finished the workout. It was considerably tougher than I would have thought, but I wasn't ever in danger of not finishing.

Tomorrow I'm up early (~5am) to get my strength training and aerobic crossing training in before packing up and heading to the airport. Then on Friday I will need to find a 17 mile route in California for my long run. That should be fun. And like I mentioned on Monday, it will give me a chance to test my pace at sea level as compared to my pace at 6200 feet here in Colorado Springs. I'm counting on about a 12 - 15 second per mile reduction in pace to be able to comfortably qualify for Boston.