THE WEEKEND
Saturday
will be a cold and blustery day. Afternoon highs will top out around
25-30 degrees with a stiff wind that will make it feel like it’s in the
teens.
Then a secondary cold front pushes through Saturday late afternoon and evening and the real Arctic air will pour in.
Saturday
night, Sunday and early Monday will be our coldest stretch so far this
season and likely the coldest since last January.
Temperatures
Saturday night for the Patriots game in Foxboro will start around 20
degrees at kickoff and drop into the teens by the 4th quarter.
Winds will only be 5-10 mph but in those kind of temperatures even the slightest bit of wind can be brutal.
Sunday morning will likely dawn with the coldest readings of the winter.
Boston
will bottom out around 10 degrees, but nearly all of the suburbs will
be in the single digits, perhaps even a few isolated locations below
zero.
I cringed when I read it. Then I read it again. I kind of wish he had not sent it to me since it stuck in my head all weekend LOL
But I have a mission to accomplish. And that is to qualify for the Boston Marathon this year. My first attempt is coming up on February 26 so I needed to comply with my training plan this weekend no matter what the weather was calling for. My new training plan is going well. This weekend called for 15 miles with 12 at marathon pace. I ended up doing 20 when I skipped my 5 mile run on Saturday.
So I set out on Sunday afternoon into the bitter cold all bundled up. Only visible skin was my eyes:
I wore 2 under armor cold gear shirts, running tights, compression sleeves, and shorts. I covered my head as you can see and had on 2 pair of gloves. It turns out, this was perfect because I was not cold that much!
The first few miles I did at a 9ish pace to warm up and then it was over. I got warm and stayed that way through pretty much the rest of my run. It was not too bad until the sun began to go down. Then it gone bone chilling cold but by that time I was almost done and headed home.
I started the run with hot water in my bottles and they ended up slushy by the end. At one point I drank too fast and got a ice cream headache the water had gotten so cold. I guess that is my only major gripe about running in the freezing cold, drinking ice cold water.
I love the new mask that velcros, it allows you to create a tight seal around your face. People look at me funny when I run with it on but it makes me so much warmer and allows me to breathe better so I don't mind the stares ;)
I ended the run feeling strong. I got 20 miles done in 2 hours and 53 minutes so all in all it was a good one. I cannot believe in less than 2 weeks I will be running an ultra marathon a 50K!!!! And then a month after than a marathon in which I will attempt to BQ :) It all still feels slightly like a dream.
