Finally, a chance to run my favorite metropark trails! And a chance to wear my new cold weather gear! I don’t care that it was zero degrees out with the wind chill! Exclamation marks!
Seriously, though… it has been such a long winter that the temperature is meaningless at this point. So long as there is no ice on the trails, we are going to be out there. Wind, cold, and clouds, we will bear it all after the Polar Vortex.
Along with about a handful of runners and a pair of cyclists, I shared the Wildwood/Uni Park trail with a couple dozen dogs. It always makes my run better when I see someone running with their dog. Leo is too much a beagle to run, his nose always has to be on the ground. Trust me, I’ve tried!
But what Leo can do is help me pick an energy gel! I asked Stack which of three PowerGels I should try this morning, and Leo jumped and went after the Double Latte – so PowerGel Double Latte is was!
Athlete tested, beagle approved!
Like all PowerGels, it is incredibly thin. I had a discussion with another runner at Dave’s Running recently, and he said he uses PowerGels/Hammer gels precisely because they are so thin. Personally, I like the thicker GU gels. But there is a product for everyone anymore. As to the taste – PowerGel Double Latte tastes nothing like coffee or latte to me. What it is, however, is incredibly sweet. I’m not a fan of this particular flavor and likely won’t be using it again.
I will always have Espresso Love GU if I need a coffee-flavored gel, so I will survive.
Today’s run was just another test run, a chance to get out on the trails and run. So just like yesterday, I hit the Garmin and then covered it with my sleeve and paid it no mind until I got back into Wildwood.
Good news? My cadence is dead on 180 steps per minute. It was fluctuating between 170-176 spm when I was running on the YMCA track, so I was concerned that I had lost my feel for it. But both recent outdoor runs have been a good 180 spm.
Bad news? I am so far from acclimatized to cold weather. Running in the cold (granted, pretty bitter cold and wind) felt like running through water. It felt like I had no speed, even though my splits were roughly 7:30/mile.
It seems hard to believe right now that Glass City is only a little over a month away. Intellectually, I know it will be warmer and nicer by the end of April. Emotionally, I have been burned too many times this winter to trust any particular warming trend.
But running outside has my knees aching. I am attributing it to running on the different surfaces. Tomorrow is cross-training, so it will be a chance to recuperate and prepare for more outdoor running – maybe outdoor track running if they clear the UT track beside Glass Bowl.
