Hot and Cold

Date: 02/26/2012

Route: Hines Park 9 Miler
Distance: 9 Miles
Pace: 10:22/mile

Temp: 36 Degrees

Wind Chill of 24 degrees

One month to go. The official half marathon countdown has begun! With the Rock CF Half Marathon exactly 1 month away, training has gotten hot and heavy as of late. 9 miles was planned today, and 9 miles were completed with no problems, even a little faster then I thought I would. Next weekend will probably be the same and then I have the Corktown Races 5K, always my first race of the year and always a blast. My semi-official goal is to match my best 5k time from last year at my first 5k this year. Then it is the long run and the race.

This is by far the most aggressive running schedule I have ever had. I have never run more then 1 half in a year, and this year I have three scheduled. Usually I have a nice long slow ramp up to the Detroit Half in October; instead this year my second race is a half. Needless to say I am excited and a little anxious.

My real problem running lately has been temperature. It seems to be too warm for my snazzy NbX Windblocker, but too cold to run in my standard pullover. This results in a true paradox. If I run with the NbX jacket, I start off fine, but get too warm in about 2 miles, however if I run in the pullover I never quite get warm enough. I will be excited when the temp starts hanging out in the low to mid 40’s because that is perfect pullover weather. My luck we will jump right to the 60’s, which I guess is not something to realy complain about. Here is a nice snazzy pic from this 9 mile run:

I Gave In or Really Cool News

Date: 12/28/11
Route:  Library Loop
Distance: 2.02 Miles
Pace: 9:58/Mile
Running Temp: 38 degrees

Another balmy night in Metro Detroit. I received a nice New Balance NBx Windblocker Jacket for Christmas, and I am wondering if I will ever get a chance to use it. Only 3 out of the next 10 days even have highs that are below freezing. My interpretation of the recent weather trend here in Detroit:

I am sure The Wife would disagree. She is originally from Texas, so her interpretation of the recent weather is as follows:

 

I did have a nice short run to the library to drop off some (past due) stuff today. I am really getting excited for the 5K I have on Saturday. It will be my first race since the Detroit Half.  It should be fun because it will be in interesting course on Belle Isle and also I should have some friends to pace off of.

In other news and to finally relate to the title of this blog, I ordered a Garmin Forerunner 405 yesterday through Amazon. There were several mixed reviews out there, but most of the negative ones seemed to be by people who would get frustrated by the touch bezel. It mostly seemed that they did not take the time to figure out how to lock it while running. Hopefully I will be over to overcome this technical issue. I should receive this on the 30th and the first run will be the 5k on New Year's Eve. I feel excited about having this tool, but also kind of lame because having one of these watches is like giving in to buy an Ipad. Full report soon. 

I Said BRRRRRR... It's Cold In Here

Cheesy title attributed to this cheesy movie.

I live in the Detroit area, in the southeast corner of the "Mitten," as some of us affectionately call our state. And in case you are totally unfamiliar with global weather patterns..it gets cold here. Now we are NOT Northern Canada here, if you ever want to feel good about your weather, just pull up Yellowknife, Northwestern Territories, Canada on weather.com. That will make you feel better in a hurry (looking forward to an average high temp. this week of 12 degree F). But, alas we do get cold around here.

I plan on doing some long distance winter running this year and am currently on the lookout for a good running jacket. Currenlty I just have a Nike half-zip warmup jacket. Here are two candidates:

New Balance NBx Windblocker Jacket

I really like this jacket for a couple of reasons. First is is cheaper then my other options, coming in at $129. New Balance is also a running company, so I figure that they know how to make running gear. It also has one of those handy pockets for an Ipod, and thumbholes. I also like the general design on this jacket. In classic running store style, my local shop only had these in large and smaller, because everyone who runs is 5'9" 127lbs apparently.  So I have not had an opportunity to try this one on.

Novara Stratos Jacket

This is actually a biking jacket that was recommended by a friendly salesperson at REI. He said that he knows some runners who work at their store who use the jacket for running. This jacket is great in the cold, it is usually work by people biking in the winter. REI is a great place to go get advice on outdoor gear, those people know their stuff, and not from training videos. I like the fact that there is a nice big back pocket and also thumb holes in the arms. I also have tried this jacket on, so that is a plus. The downside is that it is an "athletic fit," which means pretty skin tight. I usually do not like things to be clingy to me while running (long story about HS cross country uniforms). But this is not too tight. I also think I would be mistaken for a deer hunter in the jacket, but that is probably not a deal breaker.

So I don't really know which way I will go, but these two are the top candidates right now. Rest assured that I will give a full review if I decide to get either one. any opinions after reading the specs are greatly appreciated.

--JD