Still on the mill. -20 air temp this morning. "It'll freeze your lungs!" Runners hear this all the time, and if you don't know intuitively that this is ridiculous, please ask me for an explanation. I've collected a number of smart ass answers over the years.
Anyway, the run was fine. Added a few miles of 2-5% incline near the end to elevate the heart rate and work the legs a bit. It seems to be working, as my legs already feel better going up and down stairs. I knew my legs were weak, but that's pathetic.
Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury
7 comments:
I empathize with you; we’ve been having some ‘colder’ weather, but nothing that cold. With some luck, this cold snap will soon be over and we can all enjoy our normal winter weather.
I don’t know how you mange to run on the dreadmill like that, sheer determination? I had to succumb to the mill for a few days while on holiday, time seems to pass that much slower and the pace always seems that much faster.
I know that the freezing lungs stuff is ridiculous, but I'm interested in your collection of smart ass answers all the same.
Today should be the last day of nasty cold for a while, but it's -15 right now. Almost no wind, so I'm heading out. Sheer determination is right. Until about seven miles, it's pure guts. I want to step off about every two minutes. After seven is usually enjoyable though.
Thomas, here are a couple:
"No, your lungs will freeze around 30 degrees, just like the rest of you. So watch out."
"Yes. I actually froze one three years ago. I only have one lung left."
"Yes, but if you breathe through your nose it will warm the air before it gets to your lungs. Breathe through your mouth...frozen lungs."
"No, I wear a lung heater."
"No. Have you ever heard of physics?"
I ran a one mile race on New Years eve once in the real cold.
After finishing "it was so cold I couldn't move my facial muscles, they were frozen like a statue".
Yes, it is surprisingly easy to convince people that you can freeze your lungs, your face into a statue, etc., but when you try to tell them about the stuff that actually does sometimes freeze up, like your naughty bits, they think you're full of shit.
Here's a question I've been getting all week:
"Do you still run outside when it's cold like this?!"
You can give one of two answers. Either one will prompt an annoying follow up response:
"Yes. I do."
"OH MY GOD! Don't you freeze your (lungs, throat, face, penis)??!!"
--OR--
"No, I don't."
"I didn't think so! You would totally freeze your (lungs, throat, face, penis)."
Sometimes, like these times, people can be really annoying with their questions. Although this year I have gotten some decent ones. Like 'what is the coldest temp you will run outdoors in' or 'what kind of gear do you wear when it's this cold'. Those are nice, but infrequent.
I'll be glad when this weather passes for more than one reason. Here's another smart ass answer for the 'do you freeze your lungs?!' crowd.
"Yes, that does happen. I eat about a teaspoon of Vicks Vaporub before I go out, just to coat my throat and keep it warm. It tastes terrible, but it keeps the cold air out of my lungs!"
This one plays on a bunch of ignorance. Vicks is poisonous taken internally, if you eat it it goes down your esophagus, not into your lungs, if it did go into your lungs you would cough it all out in an epic, rib cracking fit immediately, and not to mention the classic ignorance of heat transfer.
I'm sure there are things I am really stupid about, like structural engineering, biomass conversion to enthanol, and homosexuality, but I don't think I've been as ignorant about anything as some of the people that come out of the woodwork to ask me running questions during these cold snaps. Puke.
I hate that you can't edit the comments after you post them...not even your own comments.
It should be 'ethanol', not 'enthanol'. And that whole comment should have been 'funny' not 'stupid'.
Cheers.
Very funny stuff. I had very similar comments, etc., in the gym locker room after this morning's run in -10 (-21 wind chill). I just smiled and nodded - my face was too numb to speak coherently.
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