20 January 2009

Cold Weather

I absolutely LOVE snow and absolutely HATE cold weather at the same time. Tim convinced me to do a short course duathlon this past Saturday(3.1 mile run/14 mile bike/1.5 mile run)...race start temperature a whopping 14 degrees. Now I realize this is warmer than some are experiencing right now, but I'm a whimp! I refused to warm up and sat in the car listening to "Thriller" on an 80's station. I watched everyone with all their cool winter race gear...shoe socks for their bike shoes, neck warmers, and even these little bags that you break open and they give off heat for 7 hours at a stretch. I was jealous. All I had was a pair of leggings with my mizuno gym pants over them, two long sleeve shirts and two pair of running gloves. Yikes, running gloves are not intended to insulate your hands.

Needless to say I don't usually race in cold weather, more power to those of you who do and who can do it well. What I found out is that the water in my body froze, my thighs were frozen solid. I couldn't feel my feet until mile 3 of the first run...by then it was too late and I was on the bike. This was my first ride with aero bars as well. My bike is 4-5 years old and is a "just get by bike". It serves the purpose I suppose. Needless to say it was a very sub par performance for me. My lesson from this race, even though it's cold, warm up! By not warming up I now have a achy Achilles...haven't been able to run since Saturday.

On a better note, there's now about 6 inches of snow outside. Ryan woke up this morning and said "Mommy, do you see the white rain?" After explaining it was snow, he didn't miss a beat and asked if we could go make a snowman. Where on earth did he put that together? I mean it seems simple to us adults that you make a snowman out of snow and that they aren't real. But to a 2.5 year old that believes he has to say goodnight to a plastic dinosaur and train because they "need to rest now", it's odd that he knew we had to make the snowman out of the snow. It was fun...snow angel's, making tracks and rolling down the hill...well until it got in his face it was fun. Brayden was so bundled up that he couldn't move and just looked like "what's the big deal people, can somebody get me out of this crap."

3 comments:

Mnowac said...

Oh white rain! That is too cute. I hate the cold too, which begs to question - Why do I live in Cleveland! Grrr.

Michelle Simmons said...

Good on ya for attempting a race in those conditions. I wouldn't have even considered it.

Must be fun to have a kid old enough to make funny statements like that! Looking forward to that stage over here! :)

Angela and David said...

You are much tougher than me. No way would you get me riding my bike outside in 14 degrees.