Countdown to Austin Marathon – 30 days. Yikes!!
Boy is it cold here in New York. Went out for my run at 8pm, and it was 11 degrees, wind chill of 0. In scouring my records, which go back to 1999, I’ve only once before run in colder weather. It was 10 degrees for the Fred Lebow 5 miler back on 1/11/04.
I hadn’t run since Tuesday night and really needed to get the run in to be properly prepared for my planned long run on Sunday. As it was Friday night and very cold, and I didn’t want to be bothered so badly by the traffic, I decided to run my 5.9 mile course over the Williamsburg Bridge and back. Of the 6 miles, 3 would be on the bridge with no traffic and 1 would be in Williamsburg with minimal traffic.
Wow was it cold. I was slightly underdressed, but figured I’d be fine for less than an hour. I forgot to bring my neck gator thingy and my chin felt horribly exposed to the wind and cold. Also I only had 1 layer of tights, which was not enough. When I finished up and went into the shower, my legs were red, as if they had a deep sunburn. I’m sure that’s not good. Wonder how much exposure it would require to get frostbite?!?!
Run was a little rough. It felt slow and heavy. I should be running slow these days anyway as I shift into distance mode as I get ready for the Austin Marathon in 4 short weeks. It was so cold that there was very little traffic on the path over the Williamsburg Bridge. There is normally lots of walkers and bikers on the bridge, but tonight it was deserted. On the way to Brooklyn, I saw only 3 bikers, 1 walker and 1 other runner. On the way back, I saw 5 bikers and 1 walker. This is significantly less than usual.
From the bridge, had a clear view of the new snowboard ramp rising at East River Park. It will be used for a big snowboard event in early February. The ramp is going up in the lighted ballfield right next to Houston St. I’ve played softball on that field before, usually in poorly lit conditions where at least half the lights were not working. For this event, they have all the lights blaring. I’m jealous – I guess the parks department can get it done properly when they want to.
Next up for me is another shot at a long run on Sunday.
Otherwise, made it to the gym twice so far this week. Also, had a really nice speed workout on Tuesday night with the NYRR class in Central Park. It was my favorite type of workout. We did a fartlek workout over the Harlem Hills at the north end of the park. We surged going up the hills and coasted on the downhills. Quite an invigorating workout. Do that a few times and you don’t notice hills in race conditions anymore. I did 2 of the loops and bailed on the last one. With long runs planned each of the next 3 weekends and then the marathon shortly after, I may not be able to treat the class as true speed workouts for awhile.
Finally, I’m really digging the Daily Mile website – see my profile here. It is a very fun social network for runners. It is really easy to post your workouts, and it is a lot of fun to get involved in the forum discussions. I’ve been able to follow and connect with a couple of people that are running in Austin, which is cool.
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