Category: weather

“You should watch — watch your step…

“…don’t look out you’re going to break your neck.”

The Primitives’ fab 1988 single, Crash, poured some good advice out into my headphones as I ran this evening. Because it was bloody freezing.

IMG_0532 2.jpgLook, even my WeatherPro iPhone app said it was minus 0ºC. That’s like freezing, only even freezinger. ((Joking aside, WeatherPro is an excellent app, and I recommend it.))

Luckily, the ice seemed to be confined to the beginning bit of the run — I guess today’s sunshine must have melted anything that had built up on the Portway itself. And once I’d warmed up, which took about ten minutes, in my woolly hat and gloves, the running was fine.

I think I’m nearly back to normal, in terms of speed. I’m not sure the RunKeeper stats are particularly accurate today, as the app had to cope with a lot of interruptions — this is the first time I’ve had a phone call, a text, a Twitter mention and some email all come in during the course of a single run — but if it’s to be believed, I did 5K in 35 minutes, which is fine by me.

Anyway. The point of this week was to get the momentum back after the Christmas break, and this third run of the week means I’m back in the usual groove. I’m going to try to get out for three runs in the coming week, too, to make sure of that. But just in case it gets icier, I’ve also dusted off my exercise bike. It’ll be dull, but at least I’ll be keeping up with the exercise…

Activation Energy

IMG_0521 2.jpgBuilding up momentum again after you’ve taken time off is best done as soon as possible. Given that, I decided to follow through on yesterday’s decision and get out of the door despite the wet weather, and the fact I’m not feeling well.

My concession to illness and the rain was to run only a short 3km, just far enough, really, to say, “yes, I went for a run.” I figure I can build the distance back up easily enough; the difficult bit is getting out of the door in the first place.

So, whatever I feel like, as long as it’s not actually icy and dangerous, and as long as my cold/flu/whatever it is doesn’t get too much worse, I plan to get back out there a few times this week, even if it’s only for short little runs, so that I can build some momentum to start the new year with…

Wee Cough

So, first it was icy on the pavements. Then it was Christmas. And then I was ill. As a result, it’s now been eight days since I last went for a run. Plus, with the amount I’ve eaten, I’ve probably just about doubled my body weight in the last week…

Bleurgh.

So, is there any good news?

Well, yes. For a start, I’ve got this week off work, so I’ve got a lot of daylight hours I can use to get back into the swing of things. Plus, I finally bought some jogging bottoms today, so I can wear something warmer than my shorts when I finally get back out there!

I don’t know much about running when you’re ill. But I figure after a week off, and not feeling on top form, the best thing is to start off with something easy, to rebuild the momentum. So, I may go out and do a really short run tomorrow — maybe just three or four kilometres, nice and easy.

And that — apart from getting a good night’s sleep tonight, and laying out all my running gear ready for whenever I want to get out of the door — is as far as my cold-addled brain has got so far. More tomorrow. Hopefully.

Odd Clothing Combination

Blue-Sky WinterThis morning, I put on my wooly hat before heading outside, on the grounds that it was ‑1ºC. Then I got out into the street, turned around, and went back for my sunglasses. I definitely needed both, which is a combination I’ve not found necessary since the last time I went snowboarding…

As the rest of the UK gets blanketed with lovely snow, Bristol was being its usual recalcitrant self by having such a lovely clear day that if there were leaves on the trees, you’d have thought it was July. Until your nadgers dropped to the ground with a clang, anyway. I even jogged past a highly-optimistic ice cream van.

Because I did 10K last weekend, I figured I’d just do a simple, short run in the sun today, so I did my shortest Downs-based run, a smidge over 5K, and then went and got an amaretto latte from Coffee #1. Nice and simple.

This week, I’m going to do at least one run before Christmas, and I might make it a harbourside run, just to mix things up a bit. Until then, enjoy the snow, if you’ve got it!

Frosty!

IMG_0508 2.JPGWow. That was cold! According to my weather widget, it was 0ºC outside when I started this evening’s run. And I can definitely believe it.

I added gloves and a hat to my usual outfit on the way out. And it wasn’t too bad once I’d warmed up. And at least it wasn’t raining. But I’m going to have to get some jogging bottoms, or leggings‑y things (the latter, I would wear under my shorts, not wishing to inflict on anyone the sight of my arse in something that’s effectively a pair of tights.)

I’m heading into town tomorrow, so maybe I’ll see what TK Maxx have. As I’ve observed before, actual running shops are useless for this sort of thing, as they assume runners are all fit and shapely. So if a running shop stocked anything that would fit at the waist, the legs would be about a metre too long for me…

Anyway. I did another nice, simple 5K today, and it was better than last time, back to my usual pace, and the only problem I had apart from the wind-chill was the occasional patch of ice to avoid. Luckily the pavement was never more than half-covered over, so there was plenty of room to run around the frozen puddles.

Not sure what I’m going to do, next week — it will be Christmas, after all! — but assuming I do get out, I think I’ll try making one of my runs a twice-around-the-harbourside affair. I’m getting a bit bored with the Portway, especially in the dark…

Today’s picture is one of the cute mini mince pies a colleague at work brought in for us all 🙂