I went for a 13km run this afternoon. I tried to go when the temperature would be at its peak because we are in the middle of a sudden cold snap (at least I'm hoping it's temporary). When I left the temperature was at 10*C (50*F), so I wore 3/4 length crops, a T-shirt, a jacket with thumb-holes and a toque. After an hour and a half outside running, I was freezing! I definitely need to buy some gloves or mittens for my fingers. I tried really hard to stay on my target pace (7:03/km), especially at the beginning. I haven't been doing a lot of long runs lately, so I didn't want to burn out too quickly. Here are my km times:
1km - 6:55
2km - 6:58
3km - 7:05
4km - 7:05
5km - 7:03
6km - 7:04
7km - 6:59
8km - 6:54
9km - 6:59
10km - 6:57
11km - 6:52
12km - 6:54
13km - 6:37
Average: 6:57
As you can see, my times got a fair bit faster towards the end (especially the last one). I was so cold that I wanted to get home as quickly as possible.
On another note, I don't know what the technical term for this condition is, but I call it "burny-lung" and it's my main obstacle to running outside in the winter. According to my definition, it's a burning sensation in the back of the throat and into the lungs, usually resulting from running in cold temperatures. This sensation may persist for several hours after the actual run is over and is often accompanied by unexplained coughing fits. Any thoughts?
I understand the 'burn' is cold air hitting the back of the throat. Normally when air comes into the body through the nose it has a chance to be warmed up a little before hitting lungs. Breathing in through the month is an expressway to the lungs so it hits the lungs immediately as cold as the outside temperatures. Sometimes when I run in the cold and concentrate on breathing through my nose. It seems to help with this. It's not always easy though because a lot of the time I'm fighting with a runny nose in the cold so breathing through all of that is difficult at best sometimes.
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