I'm Glad I Postponed My Long Run

Saturday morning has almost always been my long run day.  It's a nice way to start out the Sabbath - with a peaceful run before most of the town is awake.  And normally I tend to eat a bit more on Friday nights and Saturdays - my wife cooks a big Sabbath evening meal on Friday night and many times there is a celebration at the synagogue on Saturday mornings (a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Baby Naming, etc.) with a lunch for the congregation.

Yesterday, however, I decided to not run due to the weather - it was 3 degrees at 6am - and I didn't want to run 9 miles on a treadmill.

My patience was rewarded!

The overnight lows last night were scheduled to be 19 degrees with high temperatures today reading the mid-30s.  I expected temperatures in the low 20s, so I dressed accordingly - my Mizuno Breath Thermo half zip under my running jacket, tights, the warm gloves and a beanie. I even put Gatorade in my bottles instead of water so they wouldn't freeze.  However, when I was out and running, it didn't seem all that cold (I mean, it was definitely cold - but not that cold).  I found out later on when I returned from my run that it was 30 degrees outside at 6am when I left the house.  Definitely much better than 3 degrees!  And I probably did not need the Mizuno top or the Gatorade.

Talking about Gatorade, I added the drink powder to water in each of my water bottles for my run.  I followed the instructions, but it was way too strong for me.  ICK!  I would much rather have water on my run, but since my bottles froze up on my last sub-freezing temperature long run I wanted to try the Gatorade this time (thinking that the extra sodium will lower the freezing point).  The good news was that they did not freeze, but I'm not sure if that was due to the temperature being 30 degrees or the additional sodium in the Gatorade.  I guess I'll try it again during my next sub-freezing temperature long run...this time with less Gatorade powder!

Stats from today's run:  9 miles, 1:40:54 - 11:12/mile, 158 average HR.  The heart rate was a bit too high for a long, slow run, but I tend to do that in cold weather.  I don't want to slow down and stay in the elements for longer.