How cold is too cold ?

I keep forgetting about the way in which winter arrives up here, or at least how it has arrived in the past 4 years. You get a reasonable amount of warning time, sort of. Autumn comes along and changes things quite quickly. So you are all ready for winter. But then nothing else really happens and after a while you start wondering if maybe this is all there is going to be this year. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, winter arrives full on. Every winter has been the same for me and this one is no exception. The temperature had been dropping slowly, to around zero deg C to around minus 5 or 7 deg C. Nothing to really get excited over. Then, when I woke up on Saturday morning, it was suddenly minus 13 deg. This morning, it was minus 21 deg when we left for work. A dramatic change in in much more than 48 hours. It could really catch a person out. The jacket I've been wearing through autumn is ok down to about minus 10, and then it doesn't really do much. So it's now time for my winter coat. Fortunately I wasn't out and about a lot over the weekend and not having my winter coat wasn't such a big deal. I have to confess that I really enjoy this time. With snow on the ground and good cold temperatures, it's looking quite good for a nice white Christmas. I guess it could warm up a little between now and then, but I very much doubt it's going to suddenly jump up 25+ deg in a hurry. This is a little colder than the past couple of winters at the same time. I've found that the real cold comes around late January through February. So either we're getting it early, or it's going to get very cold later on.

I actually went out for a hill training run in the forest on Saturady, as part of my "what the hell have I gotten myself into" Lidingöloppet training programme. Despite it being -13 deg when I started out. I had 2 layers on top, my fleecy winter running tights, hat and gloves, so I figured I would probably be ok. Last winter I was out when it was around -7 or 8 deg and I think that I burnt my lungs a little when trying to suck in cold air while dragging myself up the hills. So I had bought a little "breath warmer" from the local pharmacy and it had solved the problem. I was interested to see how it would cope when it was several degrees colder outside. I admit that I was very impressed with it. The temperature in the hills had reached -15 deg C by the time I got there but I never felt the effects of the cold on my breathing at all. It's a fantastic little device which I can thoroughly recommend to anyone who has difficulty with cold air. You look slightly silly having something hanging out of your mouth but I found that I stopped caring about that after a while. I would rather have nice warm lungs. The downside, especially when it's really cold, is that the device generates a bit of condensation, which needs to run out. Because it hangs downwards slightly from your mouth, it's mostly an automatic process. I was slightly disgusted to see when I got home that the front of my training top was a strange white colour instead of it's normal blue. I realised that it was the condensation from my breath which had dropped out of the breather warmer onto my shirt, and then had frozen. So I had a spit covered front. That's class. As I said, it's largely an automatic process, but sometimes droplets will sit at the front of the device. Then you have to remember to take it out of your mouth every 10 or 15 minutes and give it a quick wipe on your trousers or gloves. I was pretty good at remembering to do that but forgot for the last half hour. I was a little embarassed to arrive back home again and discover that a 3cm long icicle had formed on the front of the device which must have left me looking like a single toothed rabbit.

Overall I was glad to be out in the snow and to see that, for the most part, my winter training gear held up ok. Even my GPS watch was still quite happy to work at -15 deg. I think that this temperature will be my limit for outdoor running, mind. I was out for nearly 2 hours and I could feel that my ankles were starting to lock up during the last half hour. It was getting more difficult to bend the ankle joints. Probably a sign, that. If we're going to be sitting in the high teens to early 20s for a while then I'm going to be back in the gym again instead.