Baby It's Cold Outside

As a runner I am always looking for ways to hit the pavement EVEN when its cold outside.  Today…I woke up to temps that were negative 2 with a wind chill of negative 25.  Thats CHIILY!!  I can run in some pretty cold temps, but today…NO!  It's not going to happen!

Most of us runners L O A T H the treadmill.  It's only a necessary evil on the days that you just cannot be outside.  Safety first!

Here's some great tips for keeping warm on these bitter cold, winter days.

LAYER! Thin, wicking layers are a must.  DO NOT wear cotton.  Cotton holds in that sweat and will keep you cold and wet.  Try 3 layers, a base, middle and outer Gore-text to keep the wind and precip out.

With forty percent of your body heat being lost through your head, make sure you wear a nice warm hat.  If it's really cold, cover your face and mouth with a face mask or buff.  It warms the air you breathe as well as protecting your face.

Gloves. Protect your hands and feet.  Although nice wicking running gloves are great for most days, when it's this cold, mittens are a better choice.  They allow your fingers to share heat.  Hand warmers are a great choice to slip into mittens to avoid getting frost bitten fingers.  Add a wicking sock liner under a warm polar fleece or wool sock, but make sure you have enough room in your running shoes to accommodate these thicker socks.  Also Gore-tex shoes are a great idea if you will be running in slush or wet snow.

Two words:  YakTrax. 

Make sure you let someone know your route and a general idea of your start and finish time.

Run with a buddy if they are brave enough to head out with you.

Carry your cell phone.  This is a HUGE NO for me usually when I run…but for these temps, its in the Spi Belt.

Make sure that you are replacing fluids even if you don't feel like it.  When it's cold, I am never thirsty, however, you are still sweating, and not drinking can lead to dehydration.

Have a warm change of clothes and  a nice hot beverage to get you warmed up when you finish that bitter cold run.

Always be safe out there.  And remember there are a lot of fun ways to get in that exercise on these cold days if you decide against the run.  Skiing; cross country or down hill and snow shoeing are two of my favorites!

How do you stay warm on these bitter cold days when you're just itching for that outdoor run?

Happy New Year from North Idaho

I have to say that winters in North Idaho and the Pacific North West are nothing short of spectacular.  Starting with that first snow up in the mountains, that looks like God took a small amount of powdered sugar and sprinkled the mountain tops, to our first snow down town, to now, day after day of snow fall.  Piling in the yard, piling powder in the mountains for epic ski days.  I just love it.  Everywhere I look outside my windows I can see white.  My pine trees are heavy-laden and their branches are bowing low.  The mountain I live on and can see from my windows is no longer just sprinkled, but pummeled with snow.  Amazing!

Things in our household are coming back together after taking a nice long break from homeschooling.  The time off was great, and it really recharged us.  We had a fantastic Christmas.  Having family here from California was awesome, and we had a great time hanging out, playing games, and even took a sleigh ride up in Sandpoint, ID at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch.  If you ever get the chance, do it.

We had a blast on New Years ringing in 2011 with our favorite friends.  New Years eve day, we took off and went skiing at Lookout Pass with some friends.  It was a beautiful day.

We came home that night, and prepared for our evening with friends at our house.  LOT’S of food, lot’s of great wine, and any other beverage you could imagine with “bartender Corey” manning the bar, and a lot of laughter and silliness with friends, playing Xbox Kinect  Dance Central. What a fun game.  We danced our butts off.  And, of course, champagne toast at midnight, with lots of poppers, horns and noisemakers.  Just the way the New Year should start.  The next morning, we got up, and Greg made our “slumber partiers” breakfast, and then we headed out for a day of snowshoeing.  Greatest thing is, this snowshoeing trail leaves right from my house…how convenient.  We all figured that we wanted to do something physical with friends, to start the year off right.  Again, an epic day.  Deep, deep snow, crystal sunny blue skies, snow angels (yes, I am referring to us girls) made in the snow along our trek, and again lots of laughter.  Seems to be a pattern with our group. =)

It was the best way to start 2011!

Now we are moving back into school, work, gymnastics, theatre (CYT), carpooling, and of course back to training.  Our first race will be Wildflower ½ Ironman in California.  With maybe a sprinkling of some 5, 10K’s or a ½ marathon early spring. (Still deciding on that), Wildflower just seems to be our kickoff for the season.  So we are hitting the bike (trainer) hitting the pool with our amazing coaches, and hitting the pavement (yes, I still love running outside in all of this white stuff) and now we have added TRX for our strength workouts….WOW!  Great workout! Try it!

As far as New Years resolutions, I don’t really make any.  I think I make resolutions to myself everyday of the year, to be a better Mother, wife, friend.  To train hard, to work on some new recipes, to continue to devour books, to laugh and learn something new every single day, and have an attitude of gratitude towards all things in my life, good and bad. I think waking up everyday, starting with prayer, and setting my mind in motion of how this ONE day will be, makes it simpler than making a grand resolution one night, and trying to play it out for the next 365 days.

Happy New Year!  How about you?  Resolutions? Goals for 2011?