Date: 11/20/21
Training Day: 6
Miles: 6.4
Shoes: Altra Lone Peak 4.5
Weather: 29°F, foggy, and windy
Activity: Legs

How It Felt: The run was fucking cold, so other than cold, I’m not too sure how it felt. My leg workout felt pretty good, although I was a wee disappointed at how hard such an easy workout was.

Commentary: This morning I consulted my three weather apps before deciding to fuck off all morning and run in the afternoon. It looked like there might be a break in the clouds around 1-2pm, and I thought running with a bit of blue sky would be nice.

Now that I’m officially training for my 50k in April, my long runs will, ideally, be on trails or dirt roads with some sort of elevation gain. So, I decided to run on Trail Hollow Rd, a dirt road that goes by the windmills up in the hills outside of Idaho Falls. Last time I ran here I hated myself because I wasn’t ready for hills.

I left the house and it was 39°F and cloudy. The temperature steadily dropped as I drove up into the hills. A few miles before my destination I hit thick fog. The vegetation on the side of the road was covered in rime ice. By the time I parked it was 29°F, and I could barely see anything.

Allow me to backtrack a bit. Yesterday my husband and I went to Boise to get our campervan serviced at the Mercedes dealership. We had the whole day to waste and a courtesy vehicle to cruise around in. We ended up at REI, and I finally found a pair of leggings that would block the wind while I ran.

Before I left the house my husband asked if I was wearing my new leggings. I wasn’t because it was too warm outside for them. At the house! It didn’t occur to me that Trail Hollow Rd is about 1,500 feet higher than town, and that it could be in covered in freezing fog. My dumbass wasn’t even wearing my fleece-lined leggings! Rookie mistake.

Anyway, due to dumb luck, I had my mittens with me. I tugged on my skirt and mittens, adjusted my Buff, and set off up the road. The bitter wind blew right in my face. It was all I could do to keep good running form and not cower against the wind.

At the top of the first hill I decided fuck this and turned around. With the wind at my back I actually warmed up a little bit. Back at my car I decided to tough it out and finish my run. The next time up I went until I hit a gate that wasn’t up last time. Probably for the best though because the back and forth gave me a break from the headwind.

By the end of the run I felt like a popsicle. I questioned whether I would ever thaw and cursed my diesel car that takes forever to warm up. My hands were FROZEN, and I swapped my icy mittens for my gloves with the hopes the gloves would be warmer. The entire car ride home my hands hurt and had no color, which had me worried.

Once home, I curled up with my husband, who happens to be sick with a fever. His fever helped me warm up faster, but it still took nearly two hours for be to not feel cold. Thankfully, my hands went back to normal not long after I got home.

So, the moral of the story is to THINK before running in the winter.

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