Who Is That Masked Person?

Well, it ain't the long-lost suburban X-Man, Captain Cold.  It's just me about to get my jog on in the middle of January in the frozen tundra of south suburban Chi-Town.  The thought of running more than 3 miles on the treadmill was just too much for this brother.  So I bundled up, found my old ski mask, put on my spandex shirt / pants, and prayed my fingers would stay warm with two pairs of gloves.  (Hey, I remembered the tips I read in the article "How to Dress for Cold Weather Running"!)

Everything went well until I hit the final mile and realized I was losing the feeling in the tips of my left fingers.  Man, I know things can be worse.  But when you are a mile from home, sweaty, tired, your fingers are cold and don't have your cell phone to call someone to pick you up, ]you start to wonder why you are a jogger!  If you are smart, you pray for strength like I did and the Lord will deliver you to your doorstep with some minor discomfort.

I completed 10K (6.3 miles) and ran through the Heights because I thought there would be less traffic - bzzzz, I was wrong about the traffic.  In case you were wondering, the temperature was below freezing (only 28 F - 19 F with the windchill).  Since I know I can run in cold weather, I guess I have no excuses for running indoors now unless the temperature drops below 25 F or so!

4 Miles and 97 Push Ups

Yesterday evening I did a little over 6K (about 4 miles) running through the neighborhood while I listened to ESPN 1000 radio. The run was quicker than I expected though I am not sure why. Maybe the cool weather was a big distraction. Next up: a 30 minute Hill Climb this evening.

To add more pressure, I asked my daughter to witness my attempt to do 100 push ups as part of the Hundred Push Up Challenge. Man, I got up to 97 and just collapsed again! I thought I had it this time. Well, now I have to work a little harder this week and test again on Sunday night. I'm almost there!

Running Is Way Too Cool

Just to get caught up, I ran an 8K on Friday, a 12K on Saturday and an 8K this morning. It should be no surprise that the Friday & Monday runs were much better than the Saturday run. That's because I waited until 8am to hit the road on Saturday - right after the sun had been out in full blast.

When I first started running Saturday, I thought, "Man it's a little hot (72 °F). But I can handle it." Well about half way through the run I had to pull over for 5 minutes because my body temperature and heart rate had gone too high (over 170 BPM) for too long. After a quick 5 minute break, I finished the second half of the run, came home exhausted and slept for 2 hours after a quick run to the local Costco.

I've got a lot of work to do to understand how to run more efficiently in warmer weather. Normally the temperature is between 55 °F and 65 °F when I jog in the mornings. Oh, well, more learning is better than no learning.

A Cool 12K

After running more than 35 miles in six days last week, I started the week with a 12K in the cool summer Chicago weather. The temperature must have been in the mid to upper 50's when I left my driveway this morning. And when I got home, I could not believe how cold my hands were. As with Saturday's 16K, my pace was very slow in the beginning. After the first mile, I picked up the pace a bit and considered running as fast as I could...nope, that would have been a bad idea because I never would have finished the run. The natural inclines of my path provided a pretty good workout too.


Hundred Push Up Update 2
I rested a few days before making another attempt to max out. When I got past 70 consecutive push ups, I thought I had the one hundred push ups easily. Then about 10 push ups later, I started to feel the burn in my arms and chest. I tried to go farther and was able to get up to 85 consecutive push ups. My goal now is to start with Week 4 and then finish the plan in the next three weeks or so.