My Winter Running Essentials: Health

This is part 3 of 3 on my list of winter running essentials. Part one on clothing can be found here and part two on gear here. 

Health – It seems that the cold temperatures of winter running and having to run through snow takes a much harsher toll on your body than just normal spring/summer/fall running.  Because of that, I’ve found that I need to do a better job of taking care of my body.  I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been the best at this in this season.  Already I’ve gotten two colds that have taken me out of a few weeks of running.

The most important thing to keep my body healthy and active is sleep.  When I’ve gotten sick, it’s directly because I wasn’t getting enough sleep.  I wouldn’t sleep well one night and then I wouldn’t remember to go to bed early the next… and then it would spiral downward from there.  My goal is to always get a solid eight hours of sleep.  For me, I just don’t function well on less than that.  However, as I mentioned that winter running seems to tax the body more greatly, extra sleep probably isn’t a bad idea.  Luckily it’s easy to stay in bed with soft flannel sheets like the wife and I have on ours.

Besides sleep, I also seem to need to be diligent to keep drinking down lots of liquids.  Besides drinking water throughout the day, two liquids seem to do the trick for my body – orange juice and tea.  With the orange juice it’s really just the vitamin C, so any fruit (or even some vegetables) would do.  It’s just so easy to down a glass of OJ though in the morning with breakfast.  It’s also so much more concentrated with vitamin C than anything else.  Switching to tea… well if you know me or if you have ever read my other blog, you know I like tea.  Again, like the OJ it’s not specifically anything with tea per se (although some teas do have their extra benefits with antioxidants, etc), so if you’re a coffee drinker or are a winter hot chocolate drinker, go with that.  It’s really just that it’s a hot beverage.  I often have some tea after I’ve gotten back inside from a winter run.  A nice warm beverage is very nice to just simply warm up the insides, but it also seems to soothe my throat after breathing in all the dry cold air.  Additionally, a hot beverage also seems to keep any phlegm or mucus in my throat or chest at bay.  We all know that winter often becomes a constant battle against that!

And there you have it, my list of winter running essentials.  Hopefully these posts help somebody who reads this or at least gives some ideas.  For me it was just a random idea (that I probably got while running) that I felt like transferring from my head to words.

For when the view out your front door looks like this – hopefully I’ve said something to make you want to adventure out for a run.

Happy New Year!!  Best wishes for making and completing some running themed resolutions for 2013!

My Winter Running Essentials: Gear

This is part 2 of 3 on my list of winter running essentials.  Read part one on clothing here.

Gear – Firstly, I should mention my thoughts on winter.  The cold I don’t mind, but the snow I hate.  You can always bundle up, put on many layers to keep the cold temperatures at bay.  With snow, well it’s difficult to run through.  Enter YakTrax.  These babies keep me upright in the white slippery stuff.  Although they now make a running model, I just have their Pro model and they work great.  Sure, YakTrax won’t let you run through snow a foot deep, but they will let you run on the trodden-down slippery snow/ice that’s left over after the street crews move through.  (Well actually I did run through a quarter mile stretch of foot deep snow I few weeks ago, and, while because of the YakTrax I didn’t slip, I wouldn’t recommend the adventure).  These keep me outside running and have kept me from ever having to join a gym and run on the boring belt of death a treadmill.

Besides the snow and cold, the other villain of winter running is the sun – or the lack thereof it.  If you want to run before work, it’s dark out.  If you want to run after work, well it’s dark out.  In the past I’ve done short runs during my work lunch break.  For anything longer than 3 miles though, I didn’t have enough time (with spending time to change to go run, then coming back to clean up and change again).  My way of getting around this is a good solid headlamp.  This of course has allowed me to run at dusk or even at night.  One thing that I must stress though is that while the headlamp lets you see, you also must wear a reflective vest or other reflective clothing so cars see you.

Lastly for the “gear” section is a piece of gear that I never run or bike without – my Road ID.  After thinking about buying one for the longest time, I finally purchased one this past spring.  Before I always took my ID with me so in the rare case something would happen to me, people (possibly emergency personnel) would know who I am.  Now with the Road ID, not only do I have identification, but it also lists family members’ phone numbers to contact in case of emergency.  As an added plus, I don’t have to have a pocket like I did for my normal ID.  The Road ID is simply on my wrist.  I just keep it on all the time (as I got the Elite model and can just leave it on in the shower, etc.).

And that’s where I’ll end for now.  I know such a cliffhanger right?  I’ll post part three soon.

My Winter Running Essentials: Clothing

I’ve come to realize that when the snow hits the ground and the temperatures plummet, there are a few things I add to my running routine, things I now can’t live without.  Winter in the Twin Cities was all fine and good up to a few weeks ago – no snow and temps in the 30s.  However, we got whacked with 12 inches of snow on the second weekend of December and the temperature has seldom risen above 20F.  Since then I’ve had to dig through my running gear to get out some winter gear, but I also had to treat myself differently too.  My writing ended up getting a bit lengthy (probably because I haven’t posted in so long) so I’ve separated my entry into three posts based on the subjects of clothing, gear, and health.  Here then is the first segment on winter running clothing – 

 Clothing – Of course the rule for outdoor winter activities is to dress in layers.  That is indeed key, but there is extra importance on the first innermost layers and the outer layer as well.  In the winter I always start with a base layer or long underwear.  I personally wear a long sleeve Craft base layer shirt (that I’ve had for years) and typically a C9 by Champion long underwear bottom.  I’ll sometimes add a C9 long sleeve top over the Craft base layer as well.  As far as long underwear go, there are the old fashioned kind and many new more techy ones out on the market as well.  They all work from my experience.  Simply buy want you fancy and use it.

For the outermost layer, it’s a good idea to have a windproof shell of some sort.  Once the temperature gets below 20F, any wind provides a pretty harsh wind chill.  While on warmer days you might drop the shell, you will always want your outer layer to be a bright color.  It seems like cars and people in general don’t expect other people to be out running in the winter.  Thus you want to stand out with some neon or something else obnoxiously bright.  Also, while this is more of a rule, it’s also good to run against traffic if there isn’t a path/sidewalk and you need to run on the street.  That way if a driver doesn’t see you running, you are able to see so and get out of the way.  I couldn’t tell you how often I’ve seen runners in my area running with traffic, putting all their trust in drivers seeing them.

 Layers, layers, layers.

Lastly for clothing, the little things are also important.  By that I mean hat, gloves, and, when it’s really cold, face protection.  For gloves, I actually use two pair.  I have a pair of thin wool knit gloves (that are my primary autumn gloves) that I often wear underneath a pair of minimally lined nylon/fake leather gloves.  This combination always seems to work for me as I can take off a layer of gloves if my hands get too warm.  As far as my hat goes, I have a trusty Asics hat that I picked up at some running event expo and have had for years now.  I love it as it has a thicker fleece lined headband area – perfect for the ears – but the upper part of the hat is similar to a long underwear knit.  It keeps my upper head warm but lets the extra warmth vent out.  I’ve also used fleece hats before with success.  (Know thinking about it these also always had thicker headbands for the ears and thinner uppers.  For face protection (which I use under 20F), I have two options.  I have a fleece/neoprene mask that I used to always use for cold weather bicycling.  It’s vented in the front for your nose and mouth which is great, but it also causes you to look like Hannibal Lector.  My other option is a fleece neck buff that my wife made for me a few years ago.  This is my go-to of the two for running.  It does a very good job of keeping my neck and chin warm, as well as my face and nose on those really cold days I wear it higher up.  On those really cold days though, I have to make sure I have it adjusted right for covering my mouth.  Otherwise, I get a mouthful of fleece when I inhale.

 

 Peek a boo!

That’s it for now.  Check back soon for parts two and three.

Outside It's Cold and Dreary, But I'm Bright and Cheery

As corny as that title now seems written out, it still is very true.  The weather here in Minnesota has turned towards winter.  Last Wednesday it was 60 degrees and even with a light drizzle it was pleasant.  The next day it was 39 degrees, with a 20 mph sustained wind, giving a 29 degree wind chill.  Oh, it was also raining sometimes changing over into snow.  However, I still went out for my run and enjoyed it.

The temperatures have remained in the 40s and will so for the next few weeks.  That is if they do not go lower by then.  Still I’m staying very positive and the weather isn’t bothering me in the slightest.

Two things are keeping me upbeat.  First, I’m feeling like a “runner” again.  I haven’t been running that far or anything, but I am running on a consistent schedule again after dealing with my chest cold.  I kept holding myself back from pushing too hard at first, but now I’ve gotten to a point where I can fully tax my body again.  I’ve even been able to tie some personal best times for some of my shorter routes.  Now I can actually think about finally signing up for a 5K or other race, which will probably be in the form of a “Turkey Trot” when I’m at my parents for Thanksgiving.

The other way I’m staying “bright and cheery” is quite literal.  I finally got around to updating some of my running wardrobe.  I had updated my short-sleeved shirts but that was it.  My shorts were (embarrassingly) going on seven years old.  I also have some long-sleeved shirts that were a few years old as well, but more importantly were black – not the color you want to be running in with sundown so much earlier.  I also needed a new running/cycling jacket, as my old one was getting a bit weathered and dingy.  Plus it was also grayish white – not a color you want to be running/biking in once the snow is flying.

I didn’t necessarily plan to buy everything within a span of two weeks but that’s what happened.  Luckily, I purchased everything very frugally.  Maybe it happens to every rational person once they start living on their own, but I now purchase everything on the cheap – looking for the best deals or using coupons at the right time.

To put that in perspective, let’s start with my new shorts.  I guess they’re not actually that bright and cheery being black and gray, but just wait until further into this post.  These shorts are the C9 brand made by Champion, apparently exclusively available at Target (I looked that bit up).  I did indeed stumble upon these at Target at was glad to find that these were just as good as my trusty Nike running shorts I had been wearing.  They are also a bit longer than the Nike shorts too, hopefully reducing the issue of my shorts riding up on longer runs.  (Sorry for the specifics.)  Best yet was the price.  For some reason I can distinctly remember back all the years to when I bought the Nike shorts, paying $30 per pair.  These C9 shorts?  They’re $16.99 per pair.

 

Bringing on the bright colors, I also stumbled upon good deals for long-sleeved shirts.  In the picture below, the left and center shirts are C9 brand as well (and were of course purchased at Target).  The shirt on the right is by Tek Gear, the house brand athletic label of Kohl’s department stores.  Again, these are not only just as good as the premium brand shirts I had, but were far cheaper.  The C9 bright orange shirt (a bit thicker than the others) was $24.99, the neon yellow C9 shirt was $16.99, and the Tek Gear orange shirt was $18.99.  Those prices are even better than the severe closeout prices I’ve seen at various marathon/running event expos.

Lastly, I have my new running/cycling jacket.  It’s made my Pearl Izumi, what I would call a premium name brand, and is a wind and rain resistant jacket.  Just like my older Pearl Izumi jacket, it also converts from a full jacket into a vest.  Compared to the shorts and the shirts, this is my splurge item but I still got a deal.  The normal price on the jacket is $110.00.  However, I used a 20% off coupon I had from being a REI member, getting it instead at $88.

So why am I sharing all these deals?  Well first, it’s my blog and I can do what I want…  Really though, I wanted to show that running and biking gear doesn’t have to be expensive.  There seems to be a trend with running, cycling, and triathlon that the gear needs to be expensive and somehow that exorbitant price makes you faster, etc.  In truth, it’s really just the marketing – better marketing, making people pay more, in turn generating higher marketing budgets for even better marketing.  In terms of quality and function, they’re really not that much different from the generic house brands.  As I’ve said, I even like my new cheaper house brand running clothes more than the premium brand clothes I’ve used before.

Either way – if you take my advice or leave it – I’ll be out running in my new inexpensive running clothes.  Considering their brightness, I know you’ll be able to see me.

Note: I suppose I should mention that Champion, Target, nor Kohl’s influenced my purchases or this post in any way.  This was done on my own accord and with my own money.  Now if they did want to give me money or product…

Like A Caged Animal

This post was going to be about how I’ve been sick with a chest cold lately and can’t go for a run.  Not that it kept me from running, but to top it all off I also got an infected bug bite and have been on antibiotics.  In the last three weeks, I’ve only run 3 times for a total of six miles.  I scheduled myself to run 15 times and 47 miles in that stretch.  Unfortunately in those three runs I did do, I think I went too hard after being sick and made myself sick again.  With all that now explained, I originally was going to write how I’ve felt like a caged animal being sick and not being able to do what I wanted to do most, run. 

 

But then I said the hell with it and ran.

I learned my lesson from my last runs and didn’t push it, just enjoyed being out running.  It was just nice to move my body, to test it a bit (again not too much) and to be outside.  I love the beauty of nature in the fall, but I couldn’t help being a bit disappointed thinking about all the colors I missed during my missed runs.  On one of those three runs I did do these past few weeks, I did my favorite run.  It’s a short 2 miler that goes through a neighborhood park and around the park’s lake.  On that day the sun was just beginning to set, glimmering on the lake and shining through the autumn colors of trees like a stained-glass window.  I ran through warm streaks of yellow, gold, orange, and red.

I did that same run today and much of those colors are now on the ground.  It was a bit depressing having to trample over the colorful leaves and crunch them as I ran.  The lake just didn’t seem to have that same glint either.  However, I then realized it’s still better to be out experiencing nature than being stuck inside.  Who cares if the sun doesn’t shine off the lake as well today?  It’s still one more lake sunset I wouldn’t have seen from the couch.   Sure the colorful leaves may now be browning and on the ground, but there’s something to be said for that satisfying crunching sound as you run.  I mean what other time of year is running so percussive?  

In retrospect, I taught (or re-taught) myself a few lessons today.  First, it’s ok to not push myself as hard as possible every run.  Sometimes I just need to simply run and have an easy day.  Second, it’s better to be outside than in.  I may be regretting those words in January and February, but even then there will be much truth.  There’s a reason I despise treadmills and love running outside.  On a treadmill you can’t experience the wonders of an ever-changing nature, but instead just have the experience of the same repeating strip of belt tread and maybe a TV in front of you.  Lastly, the third lesson from today?  The best fall run recovery drink is a steaming mug of hot chocolate… or two.