Running hot and cold

Wool I buy more?

Today's run (street): 4.5 miles

Yesterday's pleasant weather gave way to freezing cold today. I happen to like cold weather running so I didn't mind facing the chill. The 13 MPH winds weren't inviting, but I dressed appropriately with windproof track pants and two layers on top. Plus gloves and an over the ears running hat. That outfit kept me toasty at the start and during periods when I was running directly into the wind. When the wind stopped, it was more like a sweat-suit in a sauna. You can't have it both ways.

How dare we have December weather in December? 

I was planning to run intervals, but I thought the wind might make that difficult. There's something about the location of our local track that seems to amplify wind. I've had situations where the wind was so bad in the winter that I had to remove my glasses to avoid total face freeze. I elected to run locally, a loop around my neighborhood and a loop around the business park. I followed that with another loop around an adjacent neighborhood. My pace was disappointingly slow, but I'll blame that on the wind.

This morning's running ensemble also included some great Ballston wool socks that my wife picked up for me last night at Marshall's. Great socks make a huge difference and nothing beats wool in the winter. They were a great bargain and I want to go back and buy five more pair on top of the two she bought. In the meantime, I'll be wearing the other pair tomorrow. If it's not too windy, I'll be heading to the track.

My 2012 racing calendar is already filling up!

All vacations end, and when they do, the hope is to be fully relaxed before returning to the office. For this vacation, I'd say mission accomplished. I even remained healthy throughout the week. For some reason, over the years, this winter holiday break has coincided with illness. It's mostly been bouts of the flu, but two years ago I was hospitalized  with pneumonia. So far, so good!

I usually rest on Mondays to recover from the prior week's training. I considered doing a run today since I'm still out of the office. I ultimately decided to forgo this workout in favor of today's busy agenda.My only running related activity was snagging two pairs of compression shorts at Marshall's for about $10 each. It was a very good deal.

I've signed up for the RXR Long Island Half Marathon that takes place in May. My friend TC, who planned to run it with me last year but got injured, has also signed up. In the meantime, I'm planing to run the Long Beach Snowball 4 mile race in February and the Marcie Mazzola 5K in mid-April. I may also try to fit in a 10K race as a tuneup before the Half. I need to restart my long base training soon, so I'm hoping for some snow-free weekends this month.