Cold Weather Running

  We just got through a week of bitter cold in New Jersey. Highs reaching 20 degrees, and lows in the 11 -13 degree range. I have a Half-Marathon coming up in early May, and can't miss a week of training. I have access to treadmills every day, but mentally can not deal with that, two days in a row.
   I'm also a person who wears some type of jacket year-round, and break out the winter jacket and gloves in mid-October.
   But running is also about battling the elements, so the more I heard people complain about the Arctic-like weather last Tuesday, the more I wanted to go out and test it.
   After about 15-minutes of preparation, I had on my three sweatshirts, shorts, long pants, hat, and two pairs of gloves on. The wind was not bad, and the cold air was bracing, but refreshing after spending the whole day indoors.
    I was surprised as the splits on my regular, just-about six- mile hill run were similar to a typical "moderate" pace day. My fingers and ears started to feel the effects about halfway through, but never totally freezed up. The breathing felt like you were in a Denver-type altitude, but did not hinder my pace. By the time I hit my final, 1.2 mile straightaway, I was able to put on a sprint against the moderate headwind, and finish in a respectable time of just over 8:00 per mile.
    My body went through "defrost mode" as I got back inside, and I stretched 10 minutes before showering. I turned the water on as hot as it could go, of course, and it felt great!
    The next day was even colder, and I got in a good treadmill workout instead, and got back out into similar elements on Thursday, with an equivalent finishing time. Back on the treadmill Friday, and by the weekend we were back to typical high 20-degree January weather.
     I was happy I got outside four times through the week, and pleasantly surprised my times were pretty good despite about 10 pounds of clothing. I have to figure out whether my treadmill workouts are making me faster, overall, so my times on the freezing days were not that bad, or whether the novelty of being out in the
extreme cold (and desire to get back inside before hypothermia set in) just made me run harder!