As the polar vortex settled in the past few days, I layered up with wool socks and mittens on top of my gloves. I made sure my shoes were double knotted and my laces tucked in to reduce the risk of them coming untied. I put a layer ontop of my base layer with leggings and wind resistant pants. The single digit and below temperature is testing the limits of my will to get out and run. The first two days of the extreme cold, I made sure I simply did a few loops around my neighborhood so if something did start to go array, I'd be close enough to make it back home. I made sure to pay attention to the way my fingers and toes felt because usually those are the first to go.
This was a prudent decision, and once again, I felt relieved not to be training for any particular race because it alleviated the pressure to clock in specific distances or paces. Today I took things a little further because I wanted to get a long run in, but still stayed tuned to my body's response to elements.
I know I've said it before, but it's worth repeating that the advantage of running in new conditions is being able to know that I can run in these conditions. It might not be comfortable, but that's ok too. It doesn't always need to be comfortable to be good. Situations like the past several days help build will power as much as muscle mass and fitness. There is something to be said for that. I guess if there's one thing I've developed over the past 73 days it's a bit of will power. The work is in my mind more than my body.