December 5, 2010

Kristin vs. Winter

I am so not ready for winter. It's been tolerable in New York thus far and Italy was perfect - upper 50s during the day, low 40s at night. Then I arrived in Wisconsin and was shocked into the reality that winter has arrived. It's in the single digits at times and when it got up to 30 yesterday I had to put the window down in the car! Oh boy. Like years past, I'm making a vow not to let winter get the best of me and decided to start today.

I was getting a bit of cabin fever and briefly considered the treadmill or elliptical to kill some time and burn some calories (I ate a VERY large cookie after breakfast), but decided I'd suck it up again and go outside. It was 21 after all, 8 full degrees warmer than Friday's run... how bad could it be? What a difference 8 degrees makes! I didn't turn to stone while I waited for the Garmin to find a signal and I never felt like my hands might fall off. I even had to unzip my top for some ventilation.

I ran a little over 6 miles on parts of the Ironman Wisconsin run course - the Capitol loop, State Street and the path along Lake Mendota. Much of it was covered in snow and ice, particularly the stretch along Mendota, and it couldn't have looked more different than race day. As I was running I realized I'd experienced so many highs and lows along those miles, both in training and racing. For the first time I got a little excited about the upcoming season.

So in the battle between myself and winter, I am pleased to report victory - Winter: 0, Kristin: 2. Let's see if I can keep it up this month with a goal of doing at least 30 minutes of swimming, biking or running every day and NO treadmill runs. I'm allowed to ride on the trainer because I'm not that crazy, but I refuse to be driven indoors just yet by Mother Nature. Who's with me?

7 comments:

  1. I'm with you! You won't catch me on the dreadmill!

    I'm jealous that you get to run/train on parts of the IMWI course! Nice work kicking winter's butt!

    I forced myself out into the cold today and got my run in too.

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  2. Great job! I'm in the same boat. I refuse to give in to winter. We are embracing it and having fun with it. Today we ran 13.25 miles on a course I will be running a half marathon on next month. Cold but doable. Lots of fun too. Keep up the good work.

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  3. Glad to hear your pops is doing well. I'll admit that snow could not look less appetizing. Cheers to all and have a great holiday season!

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  4. We must be so far behind in NY. We aren't anywhere near winter yet. You are up in a winter wonderland from the sounds of it.

    I did see a few small flurries this morning in Central Park.

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  5. Glad to hear your dad is on the mend.

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  6. Way to suck it up! With the temperatures dipping below 0C around here, I can feel my will to exercise outdoors fading fast.
    Reading these kinds of posts helps keep me going. Thanks!

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  7. Ok, this post was so meant for me, I think winter may have gotten the better of me (and I'm on Long Island, where it's been mild). I need to hear others who are dealing with waaay colder temps...ok, back on the streets tomorrow!

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