Zero Dark Thirty

Today the temperature was right around zero to 2 degrees when I woke up.  But with no wind-chill, it was much more bearable than earlier this week for running.  But I still bundled up: long-sleeve shirt, thermal fleece, running jacket; running gloves with mitten covers, hand warmers; hat, neoprene mask, ski goggles; running tights and pants; 2 pairs of socks.  For visibility, in addition to my neon green jacket, I have a reflective vest, a lighted armband, and a headlamp. On my feet, I wore my oldest running shoes, and Yak-Trax. 

This week’s temp run is the same distance as last week – 1 mile warm-up, 5 miles at tempo pace, and 1 mile cool down.  But instead of 8 minute pace, this week it is 7:50.   The streets are very snowy, so I did not have a lot of confidence about holding that pace with all that gear, and the unsure, slushy-powdery footing in the dark. 

For my tempo runs, I don’t hold myself to the full distance of warm-up and cool-down, but I always do the adistance, and hopefully hold the pace.   I headed out just before 5:30 am, and headed east from my house. There were no cars on the street, but when I could see cars with their lights on in the driveway, I assumed their owners had remote starters, and were warming the car up.  I finished about a ¾ mile warm-up, and started my watch as I passed my house.   I have a 4 mile route that does not cross any busy streets, and with a few add-ons, I should be able to get it to 5 miles.  

My neighborhood streets are mainly covered with packed down, slippery snow. The Yak-Trax are gripping the snow pretty well, so I feel my footfalls are landing evenly and confidently.  Sometimes you tense up when running in the dark or on slick surfaces, and that affects your gait, and can cause injuries even if you don’t fall. 

There are few spots where tire tracks expose the pavement.  I try to aim for those when I can, not because I am that worried about slipping, but because the continuous running on a powdery/slippery surface expends so much more energy than running on a sure-footed surface.  It is not good for the Yak-Trax to run very far on bare pavement, but there is enough snow clinging to the wire coils that I am good for 4-5 strides at a time. 

This first mile feels pretty tough, but I check the watch, and see under an 8 minute pace, and I usually speed up after a mile.   Overall, I feel warm, but because I have my thumbs looped through holds in the wrist of my fleece, the blood flow to my thumbs is constricted, and they are feeling cold.  So, I fumble with mittens, gloves, sleeves for a few blocks, and that slows me and wears me down a bit.   One of my add-ons to this route is on a street that gets a lot of traffic, so there is only snow near the shoulder, and it is piled up.  I would to run all 5 miles on this, but this clear patch only is on one side of the street for a half mile.   The next add-on is the opposite – deeper snow, few bare spots.  It is also slightly uphill, so this wears me out, too.  I find that my nose is all stuffed up under the mask, and I can’t get rid of it via the standard “snot-rocket”, or “farmer’s wipe”.   So, I pull the mask down, and get a tissue out of my pocket.  This helps, but I end up walking for a bit so I don’t lose my focus on my footing.   I pick it back up, breathing more freely.

The ground underneath the snow does not seem to be too icy – yet.  One of the biggest hazards is the clumps of snow that people have plowed/blown out of their driveways into the middle of the street.  It is difficult to pick up that the depth of the snow increases suddenly.  My feet just kick through it, but I have to guard against overreacting in surprise.  I have these snow goggles on which are slightly tinted, and I think they are tilting my headlamp further up than the 5-10 steps I usually aim it at.  White on white, though is difficult to pick up. 

I am not sure if it was the recent solar flare (which might make the Northern Lights visible in the Midwest), but somehow my GPS watch switched the display from the standard total mileage display to the current mile.  I know it did not stop, and I have a general idea of the splits.  I get to the last mile, and I will be under by 0.2 miles when I reach my house.  I figure I can skimp on the cool-down, but I run an extra block, and double back, before finishing.  My 5 mile ends right at my comer, so my cool-down is only 100 meters.  I did manage to pick it up “heading for the barn”. This mile is under 8 minute pace, to make my average 8:03.  That’s well above the 7:50 goal pace, and even slower than the 7:54 I clocked on the same route, same distance last week –also using Yak-Trax.

I am not frustrated though, I am glad to have persevered against the cold, and avoided the treadmill.   Once I can lose the Yak-Trax and the extra pounds of winter gear, I should be running at least a few seconds per mile faster.  The current wave of subzero weather is behind us, and we should actually see above freezing temperatures for a few days to hopefully put a dent in the foot and half of snow that has accumulated since Christmas.    But to paraphrase Game of Thrones – “Winter is Here.”