It wasn’t until I took a hot shower a couple of hours after my run this morning that I warmed up. Brrr . . . winter rain, nothing like it. Rainy weather in the transition months of March and November can make for some miserable runs.
So what to wear on days like this? There is a big difference between running more than an hour in this weather. After an hour or so water repellency and even waterproof Gore-Tex begins to break down. The temperature upon leaving home at 7 a.m. was +3C with a 9K southerly wind.
Gore-Tex membrane under an electron microscope. Size of islands about 10µm.
This was my cold rain gear of choice: ball cap, long-sleeve wicking top, Gore-Tex jacket, 3/4 capri tights under single-layer warm-pants, ankle socks and Gore-Tex mittens. This was comfortable enough for the first rainy hour but eventually my mitts were soaked and I had to head back into the south wind and my hands got so cold that I could barely manage to unzip my pocket to find my key.
As I write this my husband reminds me that I rushed into the bedroom this morning, waking him with the news, that “It’s a mess out there!” He says I’m losing my nerve for facing the elements. And, he’s probably right. I think my diminishing resolve is due in part to the absence of a solid spring running goal but I’m working on that. I sent an email to my Saturday run pals warning them that I may only run half of what I had planned. In the end, I ran 10 miles, four miles short of the pre-rain plan.
My reward for 10 miles in the rain was a bowl of Canadian Colada Oatmeal a tribute to my favourite Booster Juice smoothie, The Canadian Colada. I wonder if anyone has ever made oatmeal with coconut milk, pineapple bits and shredded coconut, topped with maple syrup, pecans and cow’s milk? It wasn’t bad but I think I have some work to do on the proportion of ingredients.
As for Booster Juice, three cheers and hip, hip, hooray and a carrot juice toast. Booster Juice has agreed to be one of the People4Kids gala sponsors!
With the rise in temperature, I guessed that a modest southeasterly head wind would not prove overly challenging. So off, I went down for a 9 mile run with 3 miles along the lake. I forgot how bitterly cold the wind coming off the frigid lake and ice can be. My fingers were never colder this winter, than after taking my mitts off to take photos.
Can you see the wind?
My 1 minute sprints were taxing and midway, while waiting for a green light the thought of quitting trying to run fast times went off like a tiny bell rung by a more sensible me. Aargh, ugh, egads . . . that was hard. I don’t mind feeling spent if I’ve run pushed my body to the max, but fighting the elements is just frustrating. I suppose it is about mental training but it is just darn hard to run fast in the cold. I staggered into the locker room at the Y, decided to skip the planned weight work out and headed home. WINTER, I’m officially fed up with you!
This swan was hoping I had food.
Later in the day my spirits improved as I made my way to my last photography class at Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). The evening sun, boding spring and then a quick pre-class trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario where things were really hopping. I checked out the sales at the gift shop and noticed a cordoned line-up to see artist-writer Shary Boyle. The foyer of the gallery was quite full of visitors taking advantage of free Wednesday night admission. Ah, Toronto, the 4th best city in the world to live. Although, still lots of room to improve, as noted in the United Way newsletter we received today, highlighting the impact of the recession, Vertical Poverty (poverty by postal code).
Shary Boyle at the AGO
So an outing to arts central Toronto cheers me up and I spot this poster at OCAD that gives me pause to consider options other than that of winter running into headwinds.
I was eager to run to the lake to see the effect of warm temperatures on the ice. The ice formations yesterday had an eerily, compelling, euwquality, similar to photos of blood platelets.
Blood doping platelets
I imagined that the ice would have an even more pronounced, rounded circular appearance. However today’s ice was not as dramatically shaped as I expected.
In the final mile of my 7 mile run, I stopped in at LIT Espresso Barto pick up some Bolivian Buenavista coffee. I told the baristas that I have mentioned Stumptown coffeeand LIT on my blog and gave them my blog address. One of the baristas is a musician who runs. We chatted briefly about running in snow with Yak Trax and what type of coffee my cafe owner-architect brother uses at the Baked Cafe in Whitehorse.
Stumptown Coffee from LIT Espresso Bar
It was a busy day as I had to prepare and print two photos for my photography class and demonstrate the use of various Adobe Photoshop techniques. Before my class I stopped at a long-time favourite concession stand, Sakura in Village By the Grange which serves homestyle Japanese cooking. I had a large bowl of Japanese chicken noodle soup for $4.00, tax included.
Heart with a bell
Afterward, I dropped into the gift shop at the Art Gallery of Ontario(AGO) and picked up a belated Valentine’s gift for my husband and little something for my father-in-law who will turn 95 on February 24th. A very long line-up was forming outside the gallery as the doors were about to open for the AGO’s free night.
I was a bit early for my class so I had a quick look at the student exhibit of human figure art. All this activity left me feeling somewhat young at heart, like the art student I was, several decades past, rather than the middle-aged mom, marathon runner of the present.
Check out the sampling of some of the Ontario College of Art(OCAD) student work below. I’ve tried to keep loosely to the running theme, which was not that difficult given the subject is the human body.
Temperature drops nearly 20C from one day to the other. Welcome to mid-February and the mid-point of winter! It seems to me that the contrasting temperature must explain the striking ice formations, lily-pad like, I saw while running along Lake Ontario this morning.
The colour of cold!
Another unusual sight greeted me when I approached Trinity Bellwoods Park— trees laden with hand-printed hearts. Ah, Valentine’s Day! As we age, the gift of running seems ever more precious as does a special day to celebrate love in our (hopefully) deepening wisdom.
Someone's heart's afire!
In spite of a recent diagnosis of a torn meniscus, I had never seen my husband in finer form on the dance floor this Saturday past. The highlight of the evening was Van Morrison’s, Have I Told You Lately to which I shed a tear or two.
Tell your loved ones that you love them, again and again and again, every day of the year! Belated Valentine’s Daywishes.
A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
We feel the flowing water of life here,
you and I, with the garden’s beauty
and the birds singing.
The stars will be watching us,
and we will show them
what it is to be a thin crescent moon.
You and I unselfed, will be together,
indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.
The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar
as we laugh together, you and I.
In one form upon this earth,
and in another form in a timeless sweet land.
This morning I was feeling a little out-of-the-loop, due to learning today, that since the winter of 2009, the city has been clearing the Toronto’s Martin Goodman Trail. I have been running through the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, over the bridge to Ontario Place and then east along the old path by the lake which is partially a parking lot ending with an uncleared section of ice and snow. Noticing that there seemed to be runners emerging near Strachan with regularity, I googled the question, “Is the Martin Goodman Trail being cleared in the winter?” and found an article in the Globe and Mail called, How clear was my running trailby Christopher Shulgan to finally be in the know, that indeed snow clearing is being done on a priority basis.
Here is an excerpt from the article . . .
Winter running tends to be full of such (bad) moments. It’s bad enough that the activity forces men to wear tights. When these are paired with the bright hues that grace the jackets manufactured by Nike and New Balance, even the most masculine runner resembles a medieval harlequin – whose feet slide out from under him at icy corners, whose shoes get soaked in frozen puddles . . .READ MORE
For someone who has spent decades running east from Strachan through condo city, in the winter months, the option to run along the lake west of Strachan is big news. So I enjoyed a groundbreaking run, out to High Park and then down Colborne Lodge drive to the lake. I saw a number of other runners, walkers and cyclists enjoying the trail.
View of Sunnyside Beach from Martin Goodman Trail
My workout was an invigorating 9.5 miles with 40 minutes of tempo running. Aware of the strong west wind, I ran west through the city and High Park, relying on buildings and trees to take the bite out of the wind, hitting the wide open of the lakefront to head east, with a strong tailwind. Nothing beats tempo running with a tailwind. The sun peeped out while I ran along the most scenic lake view sections so I stopped to take a few photos.
Sky meets ice in Marilyn Bell Park
Thank you City of Toronto for a wonderful winter running experience. I hope (gulp) that MGT snow-clearing is here to stay. Better write a thank you letter to City Hall!
Canal, river & parliament buildings converge for this fabulous view from my hotel room.
I’ve returned from my slightly-less-than-two-day-getaway in Ottawa, having missed a second day of posting for 2011. My from-the-airport post was pretty meagre, so I decided against a second thin offering yesterday.
Breakfast With a View
I started my mini-holiday with a 7 a.m. breakfast with a friend, in the hotel cafe. This friend has recently moved here from Toronto and it turns out that he is living in the Lebreton Flats neighbourhood, about one block from where we lived for some of of the five years we called Ottawa home. We became friends while part of a running club at the University of Toronto, a group that was spearheaded by incomparable coach, Zeba Crook, then grad-student, now professor in the Religion and Philosophy department at Ottawa’s Carelton University. Unfortunately, a get together with Zeb was not to be, as he is in that very busy phase, family life with two working parents and two young kids.
Our First Ottawa Home, a Heritage House on James Street in Centretown
After having a look at the basement fitness facility in the hotel, I resolved to run outdoors as the day was especially bright and I planned a route which encompassed our two Ottawa homes, two favourite parks and the YMCA-YWCA where I used to leave my son with the babysitting service while working out, until he graduated to the nursery school.
Our second home on Elm Street was our first home purchase.
I’ve written about my winter runs in Toronto but I had forgotten how much a slog winter running in Ottawa is because of the rarely-bare sidewalks. I’ve heard a lot about Yak Trax a unique coil system that clips onto shoes and gives you traction on ice and packed now and I’ll be buying a pair of these, the next time I visit Ottawa in the winter. I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Over my abbreviated run of 5 miles, there was one measly block of clear sidewalk. I had planned to do some speedwork but had no choice but to abandon this plan.
Ran into my old friend Oscar Peterson.
During my Ottawa days there was no such thing as a treadmill at the YMCA and there was no indoor track so it was very tough to run through the winter. I remember running along the canal in -40C weather, when I was stopped by a television camera crew, waiting to interview runners brave enough (or foolish enough) to run in the cold. So there you have it, my 15 seconds of Ottawa television fame.
Dundonald Park in Centretown. Many happy times spent playing here.
As I returned to the center of town I checked out some of the Winterludedisplays awaiting the weekend action. I think Winterlude now takes place over three weekends, rather than the former ten day stretch. I once took part in a Winterlude tradition, a Skate, Ski and Run Triathlon. In spite of the bad footing I enjoyed my little trip down memory lane and returned refreshed and eager to play tourist in the afternoon.
February 2011 it turns out, will be a very social month for us, more so than the holiday season. With an outing tonight and tomorrow, I decided to do a solo long run this morning to avoid a weekend long run. For a moment, I considered doing my 14 miler on the treadmill, discouraged by the overcast sky but thought better of it.
Four miles into the run, I took part in an email exchange around a confusion about whether the racing, mentioned a few days ago, was happening today. I suppose having a BlackBerry is a bit of consolation, a kind of companion when you are slogging it out in the winter with no company. There are those days when it takes a lot of positive self-talk to get out there and train so if the promise of being able to check email every few miles makes it a bit easier, so be it.
I enjoyed the section in Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running where he describes his interview with Toshiko Seko one of Japan’s great marathon runners. Murakami asks Seko if there are days when he doesn’t feel like running. Seko looked at him with a you-must-be-joking expression and answers that of course, there are those days, every day in fact! If one considers the difficulty of his training routine, it makes perfect sense. As we say in the business, the man is a “machine”.
In truth, for those who run every day, however humble our goals, we rely on all manner of mental gymnastics to get out the door. Discipline is a lot about becoming highly adept at finding the many reasons, why, why, why when so much of the mind and body says, no, no, no. Anyhow, today was such a day but as usual I reminded myself of how great I feel after a long run and how much I like the results of being highly fit and running fast times. Additionally, I remind myself of how much I dislike the results of less activity. When I started running, I was very motivated by the benefit of stress release and used to visualize that I was leaving stress behind like a trail of soot on the road.
My route in a nutshell was west to High Park with a short loop there, then back east through the CNE grounds, past Ontario Place and over to Harbourfront, with a northwest beeline for home.
View From Ontario Place
There was a very pretty pink hue hovering on the horizon which made for a pleasant sight while running past Ontario Place. East of there is the Tip Top Tailor building. I’ve run by the Tip Top Tailor building, now converted into lofts for decades, and often wondered about the interior. Today I’ll get the inside story, as that is where we are headed this evening.
I made a pit stop at Harbourfront Center and took a moment to enjoy a photography exhibit. A photo by Jesse Boleswhich is part of an exhibit called Piles caught my eye. The aesthetic is similar to art that I enjoyed in my younger days. And then I hit the road again, face to face with a very strong west wind. This is the first year that I’ve had a vented face protector and it is a big improvement over the muffler style face warmers which can get iced up in super-cold temperatures.
Photograph by Jesse Boles
My final stop was the dry cleaners, from there jogging the final stretch home, cleaning in hand. Finishing felt so good that I cheered out loud for myself!
As with the camping experience, food tastes better after a long run, so I eagerly dove right into breakfast by making my quickie version of Carrot Cake Oatmeal. If you haven’t tried it yet, you really must. It is super-fine stuff.
Breakfast of Champions
Recipe: In large microwavable bowl combine 1 cup grated carrots, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup oats (not quick cooking oats), 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, a dash of cinnamon, raisins (optional), dried cranberries (optional) and cook on high for 5 minutes. Stir. Add chopped pecans, maple syrup and milk or cream. Make sure the bowl you cook the oatmeal in is at least twice the volume of the ingredients as it will boil and bubble vigorously.
YOU MUST TRY THIS!
There was some leftover whipping cream in the fridge so I indulged, and used that instead of milk. This is my third post about Carrot Cake Oatmeal, and I urge you to give it a try. It’s a real winner and will add excitement to your breakfast table this winter. And how virtuous one feels starting the day with a cup of grated carrot in your cereal, especially after a hardy workout!
“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” Benjamin Franklin
Having been born and raised in Montreal, childhood memories involve what seemed like mini-mountain ranges lining the streets providing great climbing opportunities for the agile and fleet of foot. I recall going to a school in a neighbouring suburb almost two miles away however, there was a short cut through the woods that was just a mile and I would sometimes hike home, even when I had to trudge through thigh-high snow. I had a propensity then to push myself physically, a little further, a little faster.
From the age of 12 to 16 I playedRingette, mainly on outdoor rinks and it did get cold. I don’t remember any game cancellations due to cold, rather the opposite, when the temperature was too high to produce a reasonable ice surface. After a couple of years, neighbouring municipalities started Ringette leagues on indoor rinks and my best ringette buddy and I joined another league. The fun came when we ended up on the all-star teams for both towns. We chose to play for the weaker team although I had a ball because I got to play forward, rather than my usual defence position.
In those days there was no such thing as a girls hockey league, Ringette was the adapted ice sport, suitable for girls. The only girls who wore hockey skates then were a couple of girls who had serious hockey playing dads, the daughter of professional hockey player, Fleming McKellfor instance. The rest of us wore figure skates and we filed the toe picks off.
I started out as a goalie but did not particularly shine or enjoy the position. My brothers used to chant this, “Lynn, Lynn she’s so thin, she always lets the ring go in”. I was quite a fast skater and because of this my coaches always put me on defence because I had a knack for being in the right place, and could usually put on a burst of speed to get in the way of an opponent. In ringette at that time there was a weird rule that defence players could not go into the offensive zone. Very dull, to say the least. I hope they’ve changed that rule. Did you know that Canada has the highest number of ringette players, over 50,000!
Look ma, no gloves!
I enjoyed today’s marvelous sun. I left the house in full winter gear, and ended up feeling quite overdressed. At least one can exercise some temperature control by removing a layer on a day like this. Which reminds me of when my son was in grade school and I would run by the school yard to make sure he was dressed properly on the really cold days, finding him at times playing in the schoolyard, having ditched his jacket.
I dread those stifling hot, muggy days of summer. Down by the lake, sun shining, winter white seems . . . quite alright.
Snow, snow, snow . . . will this storm materialize as predicted? I thought this might be a good time to list the different indoor venues where I have done long runs when poor conditions prevailed. In days of yore, treadmills were not available at fitness facilities, so most runners slogged it out on the roads. I’ve always been finicky about poor footing due to chronic ankle troubles stemming from having severely sprained my ankle at age 13 on a trampoline. Consequently, I’m usually the first to head indoors to find relief from slipping and sliding outdoors.
I once ran 18 miles on this track, a total of 4955.5 laps in the early-eighties. David Suzuki used to be a regular on this teeny track.
Former Central YMCA on College Street
The West End YMCA
15.5 laps to the mile.
I ran a full marathon, 26.2 miles here in the mid-eighties, a total of 380 laps.
Hart House Track at the University of Toronto
About 11.3 laps to the mile
I’ve run 12 miles on this track. Although it is bigger than the old Central YMCA track the banking is horrible and I would not recommend doing a long run here.
The Athletic Centre at the University of Toronto
8 laps to the mile
About 6-7 years ago I ran 23 miles on the outside track and ran by time rather than counting laps. Who says we don’t get smarter with age.
The York University Track
8 laps to the mile
I’ve run a number of track races on the indoor track, which has excellent banking and run on the outer warm-up track before and after workouts or races. I’ve never done a long run there but I imagine it would be fairly entertaining with all the high-performance activity on the inside track. My husband and I used to see the infamous Ben Johnson work out on the sprint lanes.
The Eaton Centre
One New Years Day in the eighties I ran a few miles here, having started outside during a snowstorm, I ducked inside and logged some miles in the mall.
Treadmill
The most miles I’ve run on a treadmill is 18 miles which I did a few years back.
If you think this sounds crazy consider this, legendary marathoner Emil Zapotek’ssolution to training in harsh weather. Zapotek would fill his bathtub with water and then his laundry and run in place for hours. Zapotek is remembered for winning triple gold in the 5K, 10K and marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
My total miles run for last week was 60 and about 48-50 of those miles were run outside. While there were some cold days, the wind has been relatively tame making runs by Lake Ontario quite pleasant.
I was pleased to find the Empire Sandy, a tall ship landmark at Spadina Quay in spring, summer and fall, docked nearby at Queen’s Quay. I also enjoyed the outdoor art near the pond, now skating rink, just outside Queen’s Quay.
The Empire Sandy, Docked for the Winter
Today I was drawn to run outside because of the wonderful blue sky. It was however necessary to get into full winter gear to stay warm, a key item is the facewarmer. These items are described in two previous posts, Winter Running Gear Accessories and Winter Running Gear: Base, Middle & Outer Layers. It’s hard to pick out in the photo below but I am wearing a vented-bandana-style face protector made by Seiruswhich was bought at Dick’s in the U.S. You may find one of this particular style at a store specializing in snowboarding gear but specialty running stores like New Balance Toronto and Mountain Equipment Co-op usually have the plain black styles in stock.
Cold, but too blue to stay inside.
Just East of Ontario Place
Here are photos from the outdoor art display near the Power Plantby Harbourfront Centre east of Queen’s Quay.
Harbourfront Outdoor Photo Exhibit
More Outdoor Art
Now that I am taking a photography course, I’ve become acutely aware of the limitations of my mini-camera. However, I just can’t see myself running with the Nikon SLR camera lent to me by my son. Even if I did not mind the weight, I’m sure the movement would not be good for the camera. The instructor will be showing us how to take shots of fast moving objects. I asked her whether that would apply to the opposite situation, when the photographer is the fast moving object. She said we will cover that later. Here is a photo I took for my course with a few painterly touches courtesy of PhotoShop, which I am learning to use. I think I’ll call it Alley Series: #1 🙂
Mind, Motion & Matter 