Appropriate dress

Tuesday, 19 June 2013

I had a commitment at 8:30am this morning, so had to choose whether to get up early enough to run my 10km and get to the appointment (30 minutes drive away) on time, or leave it until afterwards.  I set the alarm early, knowing from long experience that I would regret leaving the run until after the appointment, and spent an hour warming up and doing some chores before setting out at 6:30am.

For the past few years, I have usually scheduled a 5km walk for the day after a long run, and that might have been the safer option today, but I have accepted that I need to run a higher mileage and accept some injury risks, if I am to raise my fitness to the level necessary to run a sub-3 marathon in October.

I expected to feel very sluggish and sore as I set out, but actually felt quite good, although my right Achilles tendon was stiff and painful.  I took care not to force it and hoped it would loosen up as I ran.  This was a recovery run, so I made it as easy as possible by crossing the sand bar to McMasters Beach and running out and back along the road.



Not a pretty sight!  Running in Maine, USA, in 2009

It was relatively cold, for the Central Coast, and my fingers would have welcomed some gloves.  However, you get a bit weather-soft living on the Central Coast where it never gets too cold or too hot.  Having lived in other parts of the world subject to extreme running conditions, I always feel a bit soft if I wear more than the regulation shorts and T-shirt for my training runs here.  While living and working in the U.S., I occasionally encountered air temperatures of -25°C with wind chills of -45°C, while at the other end of the scale, I have dealt with the humidity and heat of Singapore and Hong Kong on extended work assignments.  Only once in my memory, have I ever put off a training run because of weather and that was when I arrived in Chicago late one night in winter, on my first business trip there.  As I went through my pre-run exercises listening to the local radio at 5am the next morning, the announcer warned that it was cold enough outside for exposed flesh to freeze in two minutes!  I only had shorts and a long-sleeve top, so abandoned my run.  However, later that day I visited a cheap clothing store and bought track pants, another long sleeve top, and a balaclava, and didn't miss another run on that trip, though did have some weather-related adventures on subsequent trips.

I finished today's run comfortably and hope that my Achilles tendon is a little less painful tomorrow.