Another and a first
Today being Saturday, and a Saturday without any real plans until the evening, I had all day to train.
Yesterday was freezing cold and windy – probably the coldest day of the winter so far, so I was happy not to have to do any outside workouts. Today was supposed to be a little warmer, but still cold and a little windy. I slept in a little, and went out for a run. The morning was beautfiul – clear and sunny, but, as forecasted, cold and windy. I think it was in the high 30’s, but with the wind, it definitely didn’t feel that “warm”. As it turned out, I still over-dressed. I wore a short-sleeve baselayer, a long sleeve shirt and a medium weight windstopper. Writing it now, it’s obvious that that was too much. But given the weather yesterday, I figured it would feel colder than it did. It was fine, but I could have done with at least one less layer on top. I did my “Strides” workout, and it felt great. These days I’m only running three days a week, and my only other run this week was Tuesday, so by today my legs were pretty fresh.
Then, after playing with the dog and relaxing around the apartment, later this afternoon, I did my first cold-weather outdoors ride. It also went really well. I’ve been acquiring the gear and had just about everything right. I don’t have booties yet – I probably should have gotten some before I went out but I figured “how cold will my feet actually get?” The answer, unfortunately, was “pretty damn cold!” My hands were a little cold in the gloves, and my face felt the wind, but my toes were frozen solid after less than hour out there. Tomorrow I’m getting booties. I just did two loops in the Park. It felt good to be riding outside after all that time on the trainer.
I replaced the battery in my HR transmitter, but I’m still not sure if it’s working. During my run, sometimes it stopped getting a signal and other times it showed a heart rate near or over 200. I wasn’t able to check it during my ride, but based on the max and average for the ride, I think it might have worked, or been closer at least. The numbers below should be viewed with some caution.
Tomorrow’s a NYRR 10K. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to go for it or take it easy. I should take it easy, but we’ll see what happens once the race starts!
Run – December 9
Time: 1:00
Distance: 7 miles
Average heart rate: 153
Course: West Side Highway
Conditions: Sunny, clear, cold
Bike – December 9
Time: 1:30
Distance: 22.9 miles
Average heart rate: 123
Course: West Side Highway to Central Park, 2 loops
Conditions: Sunny, clear, cold, windy