It snowed all day today.  The temperature never rose above freezing point.  The sky was overcast and gray.  None of this would stop me from running outside today.

My long run this week was a 75 minute, easy paced, endurance run.  The thought of running on the treadmill for 75 minutes was daunting.  I have been running on the treadmill for two weeks now, as I carefully rehabbed my Achilles tendon. With my Achilles now feeling like it is at least 90% fixed, I decided I would go outside for my long run.

Fortunately, I have all the right clothing to run outside in the cold.  The most critical items for me are my beanie and my running mittens. 

I use the beanie to regulate my temperature.  With so much heat radiated from your head, wearing a beanie can keep that heat in and keep you warm.  If I start to overheat however, I simply take off the beanie and I immediately cool down.  I have been known to take the beanie off and put it back on my head, several times during a long run.  Today was a really cold day, so it stayed on my head all day.

The running mittens are very important for me, because my hands get cold very easily while running.  I have very mild Reynaud’s Syndrome, which cuts off the blood supply to my fingers, whenever they are cold.  It’s very manageable, but wearing mittens, stops it in its tracks.  I find that mittens are much better at keeping my fingers warm, compared to gloves.

I enjoyed my run.  My Achilles issues were minimum and it was good to see others out there, having fun in the park.  It has definitely been cold lately, because the lake is now sufficiently frozen, for people to play hockey on it.  I have been known to run across the frozen lake on long runs before.  Maybe I’ll do that next week, if the weather stays cold.