Baby It's Cold Outside

Today's plan consisted of a 35 minute run followed by drills.  Sydney and I set out at 6 a.m. and it was COLD out.  We've been running outside, year-round for the last two years so I'm not unfamiliar with how badly it can suck at first but as long as I'm properly outfitted things normally warm up pretty quickly.  Paul thought I was nuts to go at all since I was baking like a dog all night from my cold but I was determined not to miss another workout.  I'm nothing if not bull-headed.

It was about 16 degrees F with a bit of a windchill.  By the ten minute mark my legs were frozen.  I obviously  need to invest in a warmer pair of running tights!  How have I gotten by this long?  I couldn't feel my fingers either as my Nike running gloves are more of a spring/fall weight.  Other than that misery I actually felt surprisingly okay.  My running lately has been pretty pathetic with my being unable to breathe even at the slowest paces and having to stop to walk multiple times.  Other than developing a bit of a cramp from having to breathe only through my mouth (because my nose was so stuffed) I was feeling okay.  Granted we were doing a REALLY slow pace but I'd rather build from that than try to go out blazing and have to stop to walk.

I have to admit that it was really strange to run a set time instead of a set distance.  We've always done our runs based on how far we wanted to go that day and however long it took us we'd go that long.  We mapped out a pretty good route though and ended up doing a loop that put us in front of my house at 35 minutes.  After a couple of minutes to catch my breath we started our drills.  2 x 50 yards of butt kicks, high skipping, grapevines and sprints.  After those we did 20 jumping squats.  My legs were quivering by the time we were done and my chest hurt from the cold but I was happy to have completed it.

I'm determined to do this plan 100% but don't want to end up pushing myself so hard that it's detrimental.  How do you know when to back off?